9. Columbia River Highway History

Page Index

• Starting & Ending Points

• Nomenclature

• Official Designations of Oregon State Highways in 1918

• Economic Needs

• Good Roads Movement

• Early Lancaster Roads

• Oregon Highway Commission

• CRH Construction Camps

• Building the CRH

• Grading and Paving

• Masonry

• Guard Fences

• Mileposts

• Culvert Caps

• Lines

• Signage

• Water Fountains

• New Names for Old Places

• Roadhouses & Other Businesses

• Tours

• Influence & Legacy

• CRH Restoration & Preservation

• HCRH Advisory Committee

• Building the State Trail

• Chronology

"'A fine paved highway was being built up the south side of the Columbia from Portland and almost immediately it became the most talked about piece of road in the Northwest,' wrote Stewart Holbrook."

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CS1. Structure: Columbia River Highway HAER No. OR-36

Location: Troutdale to The Dalles, HMP 14.2 to 88.0

Date: 1913-22

Designer: Samuel C. Lancaster, J. A. Elliott, Roy A Klein

Owner: Oregon Department of Transportation

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"In the year A. D. 1915, great progress was made on the Pacific Coast of North America. No event was of greater importance than the construction of the Columbia River Highway in the State of Oregon. The last barrier between the "Inland Empire" and the Pacific Ocean has been removed. A broad thoroughfare almost two hundred miles in length now passes through two mountain ranges. All grades are easy, the maximum being five per cent. The curves are graceful; the shortest radius is one hundred feet, and there is always a good sight ahead. The road is everywhere twenty-four feet in width. Beautiful concrete bridges and strong protection railings make is safe and comfortable."

"Progress, in the early years of this century, was not only a process, but a goal in its own right, inextricably linked with the expansion of industry, urbanization, and, especially -- the improvement of transportation. The flying machine was still in its infancy, riverboats had long since passed their prime, and the railroad had become a sedate and predictable resident of the countryside. But that precocious adolescent -- the Tin Lizzie -- had sprung full formed from the factory of Henry Ford and was recklessly transfiguring the American Landscape. Like any teenager, it wanted to go places -- and it needed a way to get there."

"Four-color reproduction of panoramic painting by Fred H. Routledge of Portland, Oregon. Awarded first prize Panama-Pacific Exposition, California."

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"The Columbia River Highway, modeled on the Axenstrasse Tunnel in the Swiss Alps, would offer the first access by paved road to Oregon's gorge waterfall zone and the country beyond. It would launch the campaign to protect Columbia Gorge landscapes from heedless development."

"In 1911, the Oregon's legislature mandated that the state's mineral resources be inventoried, and the Oregon Bureau of Mines and Geology was established and placed under the auspices of the Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University). In addition to investigating and reporting on the mineral resources of the state, the Bureau would cooperate with other state agencies in road surveys. During it's early years, the Bureau produced a number of bulletins, including reports on building stone in Oregon, mineral resources in several counties, and even reports on possible oil and gas reserves in Oregon. The first bulletin published by the agency was entitled Road Materials in the Willamette Valley."

First Annual Report of the Highway Engineer for the Period Ending November 30, 1914

On September 24, 1913, the Board of County Commissioners of Multnomah County passed the following resolution:

Ordered—That the following resolution be adopted by the Board of County Commissioners: —

Resolved—-That the Oregon State Highway Commission be requested to take charge of the surveys, locations and all necessary preliminary work for the construction of the Columbia Highway lying in Multnomah County, and that the Oregon State Highway Commission be authorized to draw on the fund of $75,000.00 set aside for the construction of the road known as the Columbia Highway for such work, subject to the further orders of this Board.

Board of County Commissioners,

By RUFUS C. HOLMAN, Chairman,

D. V. HART, County Commissioner.

On September 25, 1913, the State Highway Commission passed the following resolution:

Whereas, the Oregon State Highway Commission has received a petition from the Board of County Commissioners of Multnomah County bearing date of the 24th day of September, 1913, adopted under provisions of Sec. 4, Chap. 339, Oregon Laws of 1913, requesting that the Oregon State Highway Commission take charge of the surveys, location and all preliminary work for the construction of the Columbia Highway lying in Multnomah County, and "Whereas the said Board of County Commissioners of Multnomah County have agreed to pay for the survey, location and all necessary preliminary work for the construction of the Columbia Highway, therefore "Be it Resolved, by the Oregon State Highway Commission, that the State Highway Engineer is hereby directed to aid the Board of County Commissioners of Multnomah County by taking charge of and completing the surveys, location and all preliminary work for the construction of the said Columbia Highway in Multnomah County.

Adopted at Salem, Oregon, this 25th day of September, 1913.

OSWALD WEST, Chairman,

BEN W. OLCOTT,

THOS. B. KAY.

Robert W. Hadlow, Columbia River Highway Historic District, National Historic Landmark Nomination

The CRH, however, is significant for more than engineering. John Yeon, a successful lumberman and later “Roadmaster” of its construction, simply saw this highway as “the greatest single asset not only in Oregon, but in the West.” Phil Townsend Hanna, editor of the Los Angeles-based Western Highways Builder, wrote that “The hardy and honest people of Oregon have built the greatest highway in the world . . . no matter from what angle you consider it, as a transportation artery, as a scenic boulevard, or as an engineering feat.” United States President Theodore Roosevelt believed that in the CRH, Oregon “had the most remarkable road engineering in the United States, which for scenic grandeur is not equaled anywhere.” During a drive over the CRH in 1915, Major General George Washington Goethals, builder of the Panama Canal, said that the highway “is splendid engineering, and absolutely without equal in America for scenic interest.” John Arthur Elliott, a locating engineer on the CRH, eloquently summed up the entire rationale for the route’s alignment and construction. He wrote,

The ideals sought [for the Columbia River Highway] were not the usual economic features and considerations given the location of a trunk highway. Grades, curvature, distance and even expense were sacrificed to reach some scenic vista or to develop a particularly interesting point. All the natural beauty spots were fixed as control points and the location adjusted to include them. Although the highway would have a commercial value in connecting the Coast country with the eastern areas, no consideration was given the commercial over scenic requirements. The one prevailing idea in the location and construction was to make this highway a great scenic boulevard surpassing all other highways of the world. 3

“There is but one Columbia River Gorge [that] God put into this comparatively short space,” Samuel C. Lancaster wrote, “[with] so many beautiful waterfalls, canyons, cliffs and mountain domes.” “Men from all climes,” he believed “will wonder at its wild grandure [sic] when once it is made accessable [sic] by this great highway.” But, in addition, Lancaster, Hill, and several local promoters sought to create a route that employed the most advanced techniques available for road construction. In reflecting on the work’s progress, Lancaster acknowledged that because of the country’s rugged nature, with its wind and rain and winter weather, construction had been “slow and tedious and somewhat more expensive than ordinary work.” But he saw it as an extremely worthwhile task, “for if the road is completed according to plans, it will rival if not surpass anything to be found in the civilized world.” It will be the “King of Roads.”4

Yeon also considered Hanna’s comments as very significant because “the people of California are loth to concede superiority in road matters to any place.”

Samuel C. Lancaster, "The Columbia River Highway In Multnomah County"

This great mountain range one mile and more in height has always been a barrier until now to wagon traffic. The earlier settlers used a trail and portage, or else crossed the range south of Mount Hood on the old Barlow trail. They scrambled up the east side of the mountains as best they could and on reaching the summit cut down a tree and tied it on behind the wagon to serve as a brake to hold them back when they slid down the western slopes.

The steamboats and the railroad improved these conditions, but the last barrier has now been removed and both wagons and automobiles can pass through this great mountain range practically at sea level with as much comfort as when driving on a city street.

Robert W. Hadlow, Columbia River Highway Historic District, National Historic Landmark Nomination

The CRH, and its associated designed landscape, was a technical and civic achievement of its time, successfully mixing sensitivity to the magnificent landscape with ambitious engineering. In the CRH, Lancaster emulated the European style carriage roads in the Columbia River Gorge, while also designing and constructing a highway to advanced engineering standards.

Throughout the route, Lancaster and subsequent locating engineers held fast to a design protocol that he developed after years of practical engineering experience and experimentation. It included accepting no grade greater than 5 percent, nor laying out a curve with less than a 200-foot turning radius. The use of reinforced-concrete bridges, combined with masonry guard walls and retaining walls, both on the road and on associated pedestrian trails, brought together the new with the old—the most advanced highway structures with the tried and tested, and all made by hand. 1

"On 6 July 1915, the highway was officially opened to traffic in time for San Francisco's Panama-Pacific Exposition. But the dedication was planned for a year later -- when paving was completed -- and timed to coincide with the annual Portland Rose Festival."

"On June 7, 1916, Portland society was treated to two ceremonies. Multnomah Falls was the scene of an elaborate and idealized pageant commemorating the history and love of the Columbia Gorge and dedicating the highway itself. Late in the afternoon, a ground-breaking and dedication ceremony was held at the inspirational Vista House site on Crown Point, high above the river. Here Lancaster and most of the other promoters and politicians gave short addresses, congratulating each other on their generous services. Rose petals and loganberry juice (Oregon's 'temperance' beverage) were scattered freely over the site by festival royalty. Then, at 5 P. M., President Wilson touched an electric button in the White House which 'unfurled the flag of freedom to the breezes' on Crown Point. Cannons roared their approval 48 times, and satisfied citizens returned to Portland in their auto caravan."

November 21, 2014

I should interject here that the role of President Wilson in this ceremony is being questioned at this point. Robert Hadlow from ODOT is currently researching whether or not Wilson was even in D. C. on the day of the unfurling.

"Retrospectively, it seems that the scenic highway and its grand debut belonged more to the nineteenth than the twentieth century. ... It was a time of promise, a time of change, and, in spite of abundant domestic worries and the pending 'war to end all wars,' the national economy was booming and hope for the Future lay ripe in the hands of Science, Technology, and Progress. There were challenges, indeed, but in Oregon. there was also an abiding conviction that with hard work and an honorable goal, Americans -- particularly Oregonians -- could find a solution to any problem."

"With the completion in 1916 of the original Columbia River Highway, motorists flocked to the Gorge to 're-create' themselves by doing a bit of driving, picnicking and camping. The Forest Service opened America's first Forest Service campground in 1916 at Eagle Creek after commissioning the building of the Eagle Creek trail. People flocked to it. Soon, scattered along the length of the Scenic Highway there were picnic stops, campgrounds, roadhouses, service stations, etc, etc to entertain and serve the newly-mobile NW public. Everyday-people tourism was born -- now people had someplace really special to drive with their new cars. The Roaring Twenties were hopping and spirits were high in the post-WWI era. What better way to celebrate life than to take your new jalopy on a sightseeing tour of America's most scenic highway -- the much-touted 'King of Roads', the so-called 'Poem in Stone' through the legendary beauty of the Columbia River Gorge!"

Robert W. Hadlow, Columbia River Highway Historic District, National Historic Landmark Nomination

Sunset Magazine’s Howard O. Rogers wrote that he had seen Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, Pike’s Peak, and Yellowstone Park, which he marveled at and became awestruck, but after driving the CRH through the Columbia River Gorge, in 1917, he believed that the highway was “a grand achievement in the science of modern road-building—nothing short of a national asset.”

In 1920, the periodical Excavating Engineer, believed that the CRH “stands today as undoubtedly the greatest monument to the road building industry in the West.” “That most modern of roads,” was Walter Winston Crosby’s estimation of the CRH in his 1928 textbook entitled Highway Location and Surveying.” Harriet Salt stated in her 1937 volume entitled Mighty Engineering Feats: Clear and Concise Descriptions of Ten of the Greatest American Engineering Feats that the CRH was “one of the world’s greatest examples of highway engineering.”2

Oregon State Archives: A 1940 Journey Across Oregon

This Web tour is based on the publication, Oregon: End of the Trail, which was written and compiled by the Writers' Program of the Works Projects Administration in Oregon. The WPA, established as part of the New Deal during Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency, employed many of the nation's writers and intellectuals to record the history of the country.

The Writers' Program used the talents of mostly Oregon-based academics to publish Oregon: End of the Trail in 1940. The work includes comprehensive accounts of Oregon's history, culture, and attractions. "A 1940 Journey Across Oregon" represents just one of the tours that can be found in the WPA volume. The images used to supplement the tour are mostly from the Oregon Highway Department tourism photo collection at the Oregon State Archives.

US 30 in Oregon closely follows the old Oregon Trail. Lewis and Clark used boats in the Columbia to reach the coast though later travelers followed the south bank of the river to The Dalles, where they transferred.

CLICK HERE to continue exploring the highway