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From TYGH RIDGE on State 23, 26.9 m. (2,697 alt.), the former long Tygh grade, for many years notoriously steep and difficult, the highway skirts a canyon (L) hundreds of feet in depth. Paralleling the present highway, are three other gashes on the hillside, made by early road builders, the winding trail like thoroughfares of the Indians and emigrant wagon trains, the stage road, and a rutty passage for horse drawn vehicles and early Model T's that hazardously ventured into this part of Oregon 20 years ago.
At 34.3 m. is a junction with State 216.
TYGH VALLEY, 34.7 in. (1,111 alt., 60 pop.), is in the valley of Tygh Creek, which took its name from the Tygh Indian tribe. Fremont called the place Taih Prairie. North of the town are the race track and the exhibit buildings of the Wasco County Fair Association, which holds its annual fairs in early September.
Right from Tygh Valley, 6 m. on a dirt road to WAMIC (1,664 alt., 106 pop.), in a stock raising country. This road is along the route of the old Barlow rail that led westward parallel to White River and crossed the Cascade divide at Barlow Pass. Above Smock Prairie, southwest of Wamic, the ruts of ox drawn wagons remain on the hillsides.
WHITE RIVER, 35.8 m., a tributary of the Deschutes, is noted for excellent fishing.
Wikipedia has erroneous information on US 197 (The Dalles - California Highway). They make no mention of it being OR 23 from 1926 to 1952. Highway OR 50 joined the road via Portland at Maupin and continued to Shaniko Jct. as OR 50. Very important!
US 197 was established in 1952 using the existing The Dalles-California Highway, itself created as a part of the initial named Oregon highways in 1917.
The Oregon State Highway Department created a numbered state highway system to complement the U.S. route system on May 18, 1937, and The Dalles-California Highway from Shaniko Junction to The Dalles was numbered as OR 50. OR 50 was renumbered to OR 23 on May 26, 1950, and became the Oregon section of US 197 when it was established in 1952.
The highway continues west into the Juniper Flat and intersects Oregon Route 216 (OR 216), designated as Wapinitia Highway No. 44, and forms a concurrency. US 197 and OR 216 travel north and northwest to Tygh Valley, where OR 216 leaves the concurrency and heads east on Sherars Bridge Highway No. 290 towards Grass Valley. The lone highway continues north up Butler Canyon onto Tygh Ridge, passing through the 2,710-foot-high (830 m) Tygh Grade Summit. US 197 travels east of Dufur and down into the Columbia River Gorge, entering the city of The Dalles.