Three local authors
present books this week
By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
News Editor
November 14, 2007
Just in time for dark, wet days come three
books by local authors, who will present their works in three
events this week in Hood River.
• George Rohrbacher will read from his
historical novel, “Celilo Falls: The Story of a Murder,”
Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Hood River Hotel, 112 Oak St.
• On Saturday, Dave Burkhart will talk about
and sign copies of his book “It All Started With Apple Seeds:
Growing Fruit in the Hood River Valley 1880-1980,” written with
the late Ruth Guppy.
•
In “Celilo Falls,” Rohrbacher spins a story
of an ax murder, but frames it in the cultural and historic
richness of a place Rohrbacher has studied for 30 years.
The novel is “a tale of cultures in
collision, using historical facts from the Columbia Gorge and
the Columbia plateau,” said Sally LaVenture, owner of Waucoma
Bookstore, which hosts the event.
LaVenture said Rohrbacher’s novel “brings
together years of research and passion for the greatest fishing
site in the world. The annual fish runs of the Columbia River,
estimated at 15-20 million salmon, had supported an essential
human industry long pre-dating the arrival of Columbus in the
western hemisphere.” The falls was inundated in March 1957 after
construction of The Dalles Dam.
•
Burkhart’s appearance is presented in
partnership by The Fruit Foundation Historical Society, The Hood
River County Historical Society and The History Museum of Hood
River County. Refreshments will be provided.
Burkhart has integral knowledge of the local
agriculture industry, based on his 30-plus years as
horticulturist with Oregon State University Extension in Hood
River County. He has assembled a detailed history of the valley
fruit industry, with its Northwest roots in Vancouver, Wash.,
dating to the planting of the first cultivated trees in 1826.
Historic and contemporary photos and
good-enough-to-eat color reproductions of fruit box labels
enliven the book.
In chapter eight, “Hood River on the Map!”
Burkhart writes, “With the numerous opportunities for people to
farm, find jobs and enjoy the beautiful countryside, many
families were moving to the Pacific Northwest in the early
1900s. The continued success of the growing, packing and
marketing of apples in the Hood River district, as well as the
attractiveness of the magnificent valley nestled in between two
imposing mountains, were laudable reasons for people to settle
there.
“The Lewis and Clark Exposition of 1905
probably had much to do with attracting new people to Hood
River. Spectacular apple exhibits by local growers at the
exposition, special train trips to the valley, as well as
national coverage by big-city newspapers generated interest in
Hood River across the country.”
Burkhart notes in his introduction that the
title phrase was first used by Ruth Guppy, a Hood River
historian whose writings appeared in the Hood River News and
other publications.
•
In “The Other Daughter,” Miralee Ferrell has
crafted the story of the Carsons, a story of a family thrown
into turmoil by an unexpected visitor. The Carsons — one a
devout Christian, the other a doubter — and the teenager Brianna
are at center of this tale of family and faith.
The setting for the book is the Columbia River Gorge.
Although the town of White Salmon is not mentioned specifically,
the locale will be recognized by anyone who is familiar with the
area; the main characters live in the Snowden area.
