Seneca Fouts Memorial State Natural Area

1946 State Parks Report: Seneca Fouts Memorial State Park

The Seneca Fouts Memorial State Park is situated south of the Mitchell Point tunnel, its north side a half mile, more or less, horizontal distance from the highway, at an elevation of about 1,000 feet, just south of the sharp disintegrating ridge that leads to the steep north end of what has been termed "Big Mitchell". [1] On the south side of the tract there is a forested hill that rises to 1500 feet (U.S.G.S.).

The tract is described as being in Section 31, Township 3 North of Range 10 East, Hood River County, containing 160 acres, excepting therefrom the right of way granted to the United States for its Bonneville transmission line, 150 feet in width, containing nine and a half acres, completely dividing the park into almost equal parts. The net park area is 150.50 acres.

The tract was a gift to the State of Oregon by Seneca Fouts, with a revocation clause in the deed, requiring that the State erect and maintain an appropriate marker or plaque on the property, forever. The deed dated August 26, 1944.

A basined few acres, crossed by the power line, had at one time been cultivated, fruit trees set out and water has been piped to the improved portion. The wilderness is reclaiming the cleared land and the several varieties of fruit trees have practically gone wild. The south side of the tract, on and around its high point, has considerable green timber of size, but most of the area has been logged or burned over, with a fair reproduction taking the place of the destroyed strand.

Access to the property was formerly over an extension of the Post Canyon road, leading from the west side of the Hood River Valley. This the Forest Service had improved for a protection road, and a locked gate precludes its use, except by a special permit from the Herman Creek Ranger Station.

The elevation on the south side affords a splendid view of the beautiful Hood River Valley and its surroundings, with nearby Mount Defiance and Mount Hood lifting prominently on the Oregon side, and the upper portion of the great bulk of Mount Adams rising above the Washington hills.

Definite plans for development of this newly acquired park are in abeyance for the war period.

W. A. Langille

State Parks Historian

December 5, 1945

Recommendations:

This park consists of 160 acres located on the top of Mitchell Point. It does not take in the direct point. Forty acres should be bought to take it in. A complete wayside development should be made, a trail leading from the wayside to the Point. Memorial highway signs should be erected. The Parks Department owes an obligation to Mr. Fouts for a complete development of the area, Mr. Fouts passing onto other lands. Mr. Fouts was a good friend of the writer.

S. H. Boardman

State Parks Superintendent

March 25, 1946

Chester H. Armstrong, HISTORY OF THE OREGON STATE PARKS: 1917-1963

Seneca Fouts Memorial State Park is located on U. S. Highway 30, (Interstate 80N), at Mitchell Point, approximately four miles west of the city of Hood River in Hood River County.

The initial acquisition of land for this park was a gift of 150.50 acres from Seneca Fouts, a Portland attorney, for development as a state park. The gift was made on his birthday, August 26, 1944, as a memorial to himself and he asked that the park be named Seneca Fouts Memorial State Park. The deed stipulates that an appropriate marker or plaque be erected and maintained on the property, that it is the wish and desire of this grantor that no person of Japanese blood be employed on said premises in any capacity, and that preference be given to veterans of the United States military service as employees in the development and maintenance of said park. The Highway Commission agreed.

Three additions have been purchased for this park. The first was 48 acres from the Oregon State Board of Forestry on March 10, 1959. The second was a 27-acre tract lying between the highway and the Seneca Fouts land west of Mitchell Point. It was purchased from Lawrence C. and Edna M. Johnson on January 14, 1961. The third was a 90-acre tract purchased from Albert W. and Maude M. Peters on December 17, 1963, at a cost of $3,189.06. Total acreage in the park at the close of 1963 was 315.50 acres.

Preservation of the timbered hillside and other scenic aspects of that part of the Columbia River Gorge prompted acquisition of this park land. Mitchell Point, a high rock promontory overlooking the Columbia River at the north edge of the park land, offers panoramic views of the surrounding country, such as Mt. Adams, Beacon Rock and other high points on the Washington side of the Columbia River.

The only development at this park is a trail to the top of Mitchell Point. The marker, as stipulated in the deed, has not been erected.

No active use is made of the area; therefore, visitor attendance has not been recorded.

Oregon State Parks: Seneca Fouts Memorial State Natural Area

This would be a great place for a convention if you were a bighorn sheep. In other words, the terrain is rocky, mountainous, desolate and beautiful. This is the third leg of state parks joined together at Mitchell Point (also see Wygant and Vinzenz Lausmann).

The original 150.5 acres for the park were given by Seneca Fouts in 1944. Later tracts were purchased from the Oregon Board of Forestry and private owners in 1959, 1961 and 1963. In 1978, an exchange was made with Hood River County that added lands to this park and Wygant State Park .

Acreage: 425.5

Annual day-use attendance: 71,660

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