History of Early Pioneer Families of Hood River, Oregon. Compiled by Mrs. D.M. Coon

DAVID R. COOPER AND FAMILY

     David R. Cooper was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, December 9, l845. He was the son of George and Elza (Kid) Cooper of Scotland.
     The Cooper Clan had dwelt in Aberdeenshire for more than three hundred years.
     David Cooper came to the United States in 1872, took out his citizenship papers in 1873 at Roseburg, Oregon. He came to Hood River in 1882 settling in the Mt. Hood section.
     His only neighbors were S.M. Baldwin and Harry Tieman, two bachelors, who had been partners in the stock business in that section since 1864. David Cooper was married September 13, 1870 to Miss Marian Porteus, of Hollyton, Scotland. At the time they settled in the Mt. Hood District, theirs was the only family in that vicinity but other families soon moved in. As recalled by Mrs. Cooper they are the families of James Langille, James Graham, Joseph Divers, Wells, George Perkins, Russell Dimmick, Henry Tomlinson and George Winner.
     Mr. Cooper planted a large apple and pear orchard and donated an acre of land on his farm for a school site. In 1886 he joined with Henry Coe and Oscar Stranahan in opening a trail to the base of Mt. Hood. By dint of perseverance and hard labor and the use of fire the trail was opened in 1886, but this only emphasized the need of a road and the three road builders began the Herculean task of building a stretch of steep mountain road, twelve miles in length. This road was completed and opened in 1888 as a toll road.
     The triangular stretch of land on the east slope of the mountain was named Cooper's Spur, and D.R. Cooper became the first guide on the north slope of the mountain. Mrs. Cooper, with her brood of children was domiciled in a tent near the base of the mountain and dispensed food to hungry wayfarers.
     There were ten children in the Cooper family, who grew up amid the isolation and rugged surroundings of early days. One daughter, Lizzie, who became Mrs. W.L. Gregory was a teacher in H.R. Schools. She died March 1920, Warren died Feb. 1921, D.R. Cooper Sr. died June 13, 1922. Mrs. Cooper resides at Parkdale.

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