History of the Crag Rats

It all started when…

Andy Anderson, the manager of Tum-a-Lum lumber company, had a meeting of climbers at his home in Hood River, Oregon, on the evening of August 3rd, 1926. Many of the men there knew each other from American Legion Post #22 and had previously belonged to Company 12 of the Oregon National Guard Coast Artillery unit.

The Legion Post organized the first group climb of the Cooper Spur route, in 1921, and Legion members, as well as hiking and camping friends attend this climb. A little later, the Hood River Guides were formed, with roughly the same group. The guides even marched in the Portland Rose Festival, further cementing the relationships and the Guides Ski Club was an outgrowth of this group, for the skiing members.

On that summer night in 1926, Andy Anderson and around twenty young men, explored the idea of establishing an organization for the primary purpose of search and rescue. Although, according to Crag Rat legend the most memorable thing about the meeting was that Delia Anderson, Andy’s wife, jokingly suggested that if they did form an organization they should call it the Crag Rats. She said: because they were a bunch of rats for leaving their families, almost every weekend, to climb around on local crags.

The Hood River Guides had done rescues on Mt. Hood’s north side, when called upon, but the search for Blanchar Baldwin was really the turning point, when the need for a search and rescue group became imperative. Probably most personally in the mind of Mace Baldwin, who was Blanchar’s father and a member of the Hood River Guides.

Blanchar, who was nine years old in 1926, was separated from a group including Jess Puddy, while fishing on the Middle Fork of the Hood River. He became lost and spent the night out. His parents feared that he had drowned but a group of searchers from Parkdale were rounded-up and he was eventually found the next day. It was a happy ending but the incident remained indelible in the minds of Puddy and Baldwin.

It was about ten days after that meeting, Mrs. Strong, a lady from Portland, brought her three boys up to Government Camp. She set up camp and planned to spend a few days. Her two older boys took off to go fishing. The youngest boy, Jackie, was only seven years old and decided to explore the forest around their camp. When dinnertime came, Jackie didn’t show up and they couldn’t find him. She contacted the authorities and a search was immediately started to try and find Jackie Strong.

Andy Anderson and about twenty men from Hood River showed up for the Jackie Strong search. Being mountaineers, they searched higher on the mountain than most of the others did. There were about 250 searchers, by the third day, looking for Jackie. Mace Baldwin, Percy Bucklin and Jess Puddy eventually, found Jackie sitting on a rock and in good health. When they brought Jackie down to Government Camp reporters from the various newspapers immediately descended on them and wanted to know who they were and where they were from.

So, out of the clear blue sky, they said that they were Crag Rats from Hood River. “Crag Rats”, well that name really caught on with the press and before the day was over, most of the newspapers from around the country were telling the story of a mountain rescue group, in Oregon, known as the Crag Rats. But, there was one hitch…there wasn’t a formal organization yet! But, Andy Anderson and the group got together within month, and drew-up the bylaws. This made the Crag Rats the first mountain rescue group, west of the Mississippi.

On New Years Day 1927, a group of teenage boys, from Portland, went up to Government Camp and climbed, with skis and snowshoes up Little Zig Zag canyon to tree line. It was snowing hard and Calvin White, a boy of sixteen, was a better skier than the others and soon out-distanced them. When the main group retreated back to Govy, they were surprised to find that Calvin wasn’t there. He was lightly clad and had no provisions, so immediately a search was organized to look for him. After three days of searching, Bill Cochran found Calvin White huddled next to a big rock in the canyon. He wasn’t in very good condition. Bill alerted the other rescuers, with yells and gunshots and they made a ski sled and brought Calvin to the Battle Axe Inn. Calvin White lived but lost a few toes to frost bite.

The following year, on January 3rd, 1928 Dr. White (Calvin’s father) and Calvin came to Hood River and invited all the Crag Rats to be their guests at a banquet at the Mt. Hood Hotel. He continued to host this banquet for many years. Eventually they changed the location to Portland and the Crag Rats drove down old highway 30 to the University Club. The tradition was established and the Crag Rats continued to have the banquet, the first week in January, each year.

The Cooper Spur route on Mt. Hood’s northside was fixed with achored, thick rope, each spring, for the American Legion climbs. First guided by the Hood River Guides and then after 1926 by the Crag Rats, the climb was quite a social event and they even elected a queen. Climbers would assemble at Tilly Jane campground and Cloud Cap Inn for a large meal and prepare for the early morning climb. The climb was a long day at altitude and it was usually sunny weather. Lamp oil, mixed with charcoal, was used as a crude sunscreen. The descent was often more trecherous that the climb due to the snow melting in the afternoon sun. The Legion climb began in 1921 and ran until 1952-53. 

In the late 1930’s the Crag Rats decided they needed a formal “club house”. Land was purchased on west Cascade street, where today is the west exit to Hood River off I-84. A scrounge committee was organize to procure materials that Andy Anderson couldn’t find. There were probably a lot of materials that showed-up after sunset. Many meetings, as well as, ferocious parties were held at that old building.

In the late 1920’s through the 1950’s the Crag Rats were doing climbs, rescues and family outings in the Cascades. To be a Lifetime member you had to climb all the major volcanoes in Oregon and Washington. A good example of fixed rope protection for steep slope crossing can be seen in the photo below.

The expansion of the Interstate 84 highway necessitated moving the location of the original Crag Rat Hut in the mid-sixties. A member donated a plot of land on Winchell butte, in the Pine Grove district of the Hood River Valley, where a building was constructed in 1968 and still stands today. It works well as a club house but also as an event site rental. To arrange a rental go to http://www.cragrats.org/hut-rentals/ for information. The Hut also houses the historic museum of Crag Rat equipment in the basement. An elevated deck provides a sweeping 180 degree view of the Hood River Valley, Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams. A climbing tower off the large parking lot is used for raising and lower rescue training.

The Crag Rats are at the beckon call of the Hood River County Sheriff. A text call-out system is used to alert members when a search and rescue is needed. An IC (incident commander) is appointed and he/she delegates a hasty team that travels with light gear to the victim and relays the circumstances, via radio, back to the IC. If more people are required for an evacuation, then arrangements are made, sometimes including a helicopter.

The Crag Rats have a business meeting on the 2nd Thursday of every month and a training meeting on the 4th Thursday. Training is also preformed on the mountain with glacier crevasse extraction and avalanche rescue practice. The Oregon State SAR (search and rescue) organization requires that every SAR group be regularly tested and certified in rock, snow and general search techniques.

After 94 years of mountain rescue the techniques and technology, including the new use of drones, has changed and improved the chore of locating and rescuing folks that are in trouble on Mt. Hood or in the Columbia gorge but some things haven’t changed. The commitment and risk required from the Crag Rats as remained, after all these years, and will likely continue into the future.