Page Index

• Larch Mountain Viaduct
• Crown Point Water Tanks
• Bird's Nest Overlook

The "True Starting Point of Lancaster's Road"

Since much of the highway’s alignment from Troutdale to Chanticleer Inn followed a portion of the county’s extensive market road system, Lancaster began his survey just east of the restaurant, at the point where Larch Mountain Road begins a grade. Standing there, he “realized the magnitude of [this] task and the splendid opportunity [it] presented.”48

48 Oregon Journal, 3 January 1915, pic. supp., p. 2, as quoted in Fahl, 114.

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

From Chanticleer to the east line of Multnomah County, a distance of 20.48 miles, there existed no road. There was a narrow, steep and crooked link from Chanticleer down the side of the gorge to Latourelle, then up and over and down again to Bridal Veil, connecting with the short piece of road built in response to the petition previously referred to of Henry Wemme and others, when the Columbia Highway was inaugurated and where it had ended its course abruptly against a rugged mountainside some distance above the track of a trans-continental railway.

Starting at Chanticleer, 22 miles east of Portland, elevation above sea level 925 feet, it seemed advisable to descend to the river level by a system of loops in a natural amphitheater, then pass between the railway track and a vertical wall of rock 700 feet high. A preliminary survey and a careful study showed this to be impractical on account of treacherous sliding ground filled with springs, and the entire loss of one of the road's best scenic features.

The elevation of the starting point being 925 feet and the top of the rock 725, the distance a little more than 2,000 feet, made it possible to locate the road so as to reach that point without exceeding the maximum grade of 5 per cent. There were two ways of doing this, and although the location selected was the most expensive, yet, because of its directness, resulting in saving nearly three-quarters of a mile in distance, and its boldness, commanding a superb view of the lower river, it was built there.

For almost a half mile the road is cut out of solid rock and is like the cornice on a tall building. In several places it was necessary to construct heavy dry masonry walls, with rock and concrete protection railings.

"When the highway was first built in 1916, most of the railings from the intersection with the Larch Mountain Road to Crown Point were made with stone. But over the years, several rockslides destroyed portions of the original wall. ... Some stone and concrete work is original, while some sections have been restored."

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