As automobiles began to appear in communities along the Gorge, a whole host of new problems surfaced. Most roads were, at the time, merely paths created by wagons. Downtown streets were generally the only roads receiving regular maintenance and most of those weren't even graveled. At first the gas-powered vehicles were used only for short distances and on special occasions. It wasn't long before more were bumping their way over the wagon paths and their owners wanted to be able to drive greater distances from their own communities. They were ready to explore in the comfort of an automobile.
A vehicle could be brought by barge to any community that had a dock, but once it arrived where could it be driven? Neither the improved Barlow Road nor the more recent wagon road over the Cascades couold be used for automobile travel. Something had to be done about roads on the Oregon side of the river. Great minds were already quietly working on the problem. And the solution would have an enormous effect on the entire Gorge far into the future. But not yet.
...on June 20, 1905, the first motor vehicle to cross the United States made its way over Santiam Pass to the Willamette Valley. Piloted by owner Dwight B. Huss, the Olds waited its turn at the toll gate while the gatekeeper tried to figure out what kind of toll he should charge for the noisy contraption belching smoke and snorting at him. Because the strange machine had scared horses and cows off the road and into the brush nearby, the gatekeeper determined it a "roadhog" and charged a toll of 3₵ -- the rate for a pig.