The History of the Cloud Cap Inn

In the summer of 1884 a road was blazed, through the wilderness on the north side of Mt. Hood. A company had been formed in Hood River called the Mount Hood Trail and Wagon Rd. Company and this was their venture.

A very sturdy cabin was built, where present day Tilly Jane Campground is, to see if it could withstand the eighteen to twenty foot snowpack that often fell at that altitude. The cabin, however, collapsed by the weight of the snow the following winter.

The road was a simple track through the wilderness, built where the grade was lease resistant, although there were no bridges over creeks and the grade at present-day China Fill was a steep 22 percent.

In 1885, when the road was completed, long-time climbing guide David Cooper and his wife Marian brought tents to the end of the road and set-up the Cooper’s tent hotel. Cooper, Oscar Stranahan and Capt. Henry Coe helped design and build the road. It was a summer operation that hosted visitors when the road was free of snow. At summer’s end the Coopers folded up their tents and returned to their upper valley farm.

Mrs Cooper ran the tent camp and kept an eye on their ten children. David Cooper (who Cooper spur is named for) divided his time between running the farm and being the first guide on the north side of Mt. Hood.

In 1886, one of many forest fires raced up the middle fork of the Hood River. Mrs Cooper gathered her children and climbed up the ridge above Eliot Glacier and stayed until the flames subsided. The white snags left in the fires wake gave a ghostly appearance to the ridge which accounts for its present-day name of Ghost Ridge.

In the spring of 1889, William Ladd and Col. CES Wood, of Portland bought the road and all rights, with a plan to build a hotel. The architect was William Whidden of Whidden and Lewis in Portland. They had designed the Portland Hotel, where Pioneer Square is now and the famous Forestry building at the Lewis and Clark expo in 1905. It was to be of log construction with a roof of cedar shakes with a massive fireplace of native stone. Icy spring water was piped 1700 feet to the hotel. The spring originally had enough pressure to throw stream of water over the building now there is just enough pressure to supply Cloud Cap and the Snowshoe Club

During the construction, the hotel was referred to as the Inn at the Glaciers but It was Woods wife, Nannie, who named the hotel Cloud Cap. William Ladd’s wife Tilly Jane helped run the work camp down the hill and the campground bears her name. Ladd and Wood spent over $50,000 on the hotel and road.

A Chinese road crew made improvements to the road at a cost of $5000. Guests were brought by stagecoach and half wild horses. The trip took from 5 to 9 hours depending on the length of stops for meals and rest. Service at the Inn was lavish and expensive, for the time. $200 a night in today’s dollars.

In 1891, the Langille family took over the management of the inn for the next 16 years and the service was more simple and homey. Sarah Langille ran the inn and her sons Will and HT served as mountain guides. Guests came from all over the world to enjoy their hospitality and climb the mountain.

Sarah Langille’s nephew, Horace Mecklem came to help out after her son’s left. Sarah then hired two European guides until 1903. Mark Weygant went to work for Sarah in 1904 and worked for her for several years. Sarah retired from operating the Inn successfully in 1907 and turned operation over to Horace Mecklem and his wife Olive.

The first automobile driven to Cloud Cap arrived in 1907. It was a one cylinder Cadillac. After the trip Mecklem used a Pierce Arrow as a stage from Hood River to the Inn, but the auto could only go to the China Fill, but it cut down the time from Hood River from 8 hours to 3.

From around 1910 to 1919 Dorsey Smith assumed the operation of the Inn. Homer Rogers bought Cloud Cap Inn for $5000, from William Ladd, in 1919, and operated it until 1925. Rogers also operated the Mt Hood Lodge in the upper Hood River valley. Little improvement was made to CC and

After the completion of the Columbia River Highway and Loop highway 400,000 people had driven around the mountain in 1925. The Mount Hood Loop Highway was so successful that the US government considered building a newer and bigger inn, similar to Rainier’s Paradise Hotel. They pressured Rodgers to make improvements to the road or lose his permit. Homer ended up selling the Inn to a group of people headed by J.C. Ainsworth. They hired Dorsey Smith to operate the Inn until a new one was built.

In the summer of 1926 the Mt Hood Trail and Wagon Committee was formed by Portland and Hood River investors and proposed a plan to rebuild Cloud Cap. AE Doyle (Mult Falls Lodge) was hired as architect in 1927 and assisted by Pietro Belluschi who was on his way to becoming a pioneer in NW regional architecture.

Carl Linde of Portland came up with this modernist “James Bond” design for the Cascade Development Corp. and a tram to the summit was proposed to the USFS but the depression and criticism by Fredrick Olmsted Jr (who designed Portland city parks) conspired to abandon the rebuilding aspirations.

IIn 1927 Dorsey Smith turned the Inn’s operation over to Noyes Tyrell, who operated the very successful Tyrell’s Tavern near Bonneville. He ran it until 1932 when it stood empty for about a year.

Boyd French Sr. leased it around 1934 until the war caused it to close operation. The Mt. Hood Road and Wagon Company sold the Inn in 1942 to the Forest Service for $2,000. Dorsey Smith was the representative in the transaction, ending his long association with Cloud Cap. Boyd Smith used the Inn as a part time residence until after the war. Attempts to operate the Inn failed after that and in 1950 the Forest Service was considering tearing down the Inn, as it had fallen into disrepair.

The Crag Rats, a Hood River based climbing club, after a struggle with the government secured permission to use the Inn as a clubhouse and a base for their snow surveys. The Crag Rats went to work repairing the building by scrounging materials where the could and volunteering their spare time. 

In 1950 the USFS strongly considered tearing down CC and putting up a plaque. But by 1954 the Crag Rats secure a lease over lease to officially us Cloud Cap as a clubhouse and mountain rescue station.

On November 25, 1970 at 4 o'clock Cloud Cap was listed on the national register of historic places.