1946 State Parks Report: Wygant State Park

Wygant State Park is on Perham Creek where the stream debouches from the hills at Mile Post 60. This creek was named after a Hood River family, whose several men were active in the lumber industry on the headwaters of this stream and on the slopes of Mount Defiance, in the days when logging was with oxen and the lumber was flumed to the railroad at Sonny.

The original Wygant Park area is described as being in Section 36, Township 3 North of Range 9 West, W.M., Hood River County, Oregon, containing 251.50 acres. This tract was a gift to the State of Oregon from Simeon Reed Winch and Olivia F. Winch, his wife, by deed dated January 13, 1932. Twenty six and fraction acres were deeded to the Untied States as a flowage easement for land flooded by the Bonneville Dam. Adjoining the south side of the park is a tract of 80 acres, also described as being in Section 36 of the same township and range, which was a gift from Hood River County, deed dated October 4, 1933. In addition other tracts aggregating 360 acres, described as being in Section 1, Township 2 North of Range 9 East, in Section 6, Township 2 North of Range 10 East and in Section 32, Township 3 North of Range 10 East, Hood River County, were also a gift from Hood River County, by deed dated September 4, 1935, making the total net acreage of the Wygant State Park 665.23 acres, more or less.

With a rather steep gradient, Perham Creek crosses the east forty of the Winch tract, and the former county forty adjoining it on the south. A well built trail ascends the stream for a distance, crossing and recrossing it on three substantial rustic bridges; thence on an easy grade, climbs a steep sloping ridge on the west side of the creek, touching two points with good outlooks upon the Columbia River; thence on to the apex of the ridge, elevation 2,300 feet, four an eight tenths miles distant from the highway. This unnamed point has a superb view of this section of the river, the scenic walls of the Gorge, portions of the beautiful Hood River Valley, and to the south, Mount Hood rises to new heights, from an out of the ordinary view point of its most picturesque north side.

This trail was built by Camp Wygant CCC members during the Third Period, April to October, 1934. Although well made, the grade uniformly easy and the panoramas of river and mountains an inspiring one, its usage has been moderate. Other improvements and facilities made during this period were 2.6 miles of fire break, 4.8 miles of trailside clean up, 14.7 acres of fire hazard reduction, 1,450 square yards of parking area prepared, vista cutting 4 acres, and five miles of lineal survey. There were 800 feet of water pipe laid, one drinking fountain installed, one substantial rock monument erected, with a bronze plaque inset commemorating the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Winch who donated the first tract of land for the Wygant Park.

One camp stove was set up, several benched tables were built and placed in the enticing picnic area, near the highway, where the facilities are located in a grove of firs, shady maples and alders, along the narrowed streamside floor where there is a pleasing air of quiet seclusion.

W. A. Langille

State Parks Historian

December 5, 1945

Recommendations:

This park should be kept in a wilderness state other then its roadside development. Protect its mile of waysides. The new highway alignment will parallel the railroad where it passes the roadside development. Have the new grade extended to the old road to provide parking space.

S. H. Boardman

State Parks Superintendent

March 25, 1946

Chester H. Armstrong, HISTORY OF THE OREGON STATE PARKS: 1917-1963

Wygant State Park is located on the south side of Old Oregon Trail (Interstate Highway 80N), opposite mile post 55.96, approximately six miles west of the city of Hood River in Hood River County.

The first land acquired for this park was a gift of 251.50 acres from Simeon R. and Olivia F. Winch of Portland, in honor of his grandparents, Theodore and Margaret Wygant. The Highway Commission accepted the gift on December 13, 1932, and agreed to name the park "Wygant Park." The deed is dated January 13, 1933. This was an unusually well-timbered tract adjoining the highway on the south. Flowage rights on 26.27 acres of this tract were given to the Corps of Engineers in February, 1940.

There have been five additional acquisitions for this park, three of which were gifts from Hood River County and two were purchases. The first of the County gifts was 80 acres on October 4, 1933, the second was 360 acres on September 4, 1935, and the third was 40 acres on October 3, 1945. A 40-acre tract was deeded back to Hood River County on August 3, 1945, and another tract, containing 80 acres, was returned to the county on October 17, 1945. The two areas purchased for this park total 105.5 acres at a cost of $6,340. The park contained a total of 690.73 acres at the close of 1963.

Acquisition of these lands was part of an over-all plan to acquire and preserve the aesthetic aspects of the Columbia River Gorge. Perham Creek, which originates in the high reaches of the Columbia Gorge, flows across this park land, then under the highway and into the Columbia River. A good trail, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934, ascends the stream for a distance, crossing and recrossing it on three substantial rustic bridges, then on an easy grade climbs a steep sloping ridge on the west side of the creek. From the top of this unnamed ridge, elevation 2,300 feet and approximately three miles from the highway, superb views can be had of the river and the scenic walls of the Gorge.

Improvements include a small picnic area, car parking area, trails, tables, benches, one stove, water reservoir, drinking fountain and sanitary facilities. Much of this work was done by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Attendance during 1963 totaled 38,384 day visitors.

Oregon State Parks: Wygant State Natural Area

The Wygant State Natural Area -- six miles west of Hood River -- was a gift to Oregon honoring the memory of the Wygant family. This park adjoins two other state parks near Mitchell Point 5 miles west of Hood River on Interstate 84. A trail strikes through the park in a dense, hilly wilderness area that was once the old Oregon Trail and later the Historic Columbia River Highway. The first mile of this trail is on pavement that hasn't had an automobile on it for 50 years (it still has the yellow divider stripe). As it moves into the wilderness, Wygant Trail penetrates a dense forest hillside along a gurgling creek. It is an ideal spot for backpackers who are looking for a little solitude.

"...you will soon see some evidence that this was once a picnic area."

Robert W. Hadlow, Cultural Resources Report (Built Environment), Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail Project, Segments E, F, G, and H, Hood River County, Oregon.

Wygant State Park Stone Pylon

One other historic built resource of interest in the project area is a rustic-style mortared stone pylon at Perham Creek, along Segment E of the project. The stone pylon was the masonry base for a flag sign for Wygant State Park, which is a roadside wayside along the Historic Columbia River Highway. The stone pylon dates from the mid-1930s. The National Park Service provided designs for park improvements at Wygant State Park, along Perham Creek, including amenities for day-use recreation. (Wygant State Park is now known as Wygant State Natural Area.) The stone pylon’s design takes its cues from rustic-style architecture that the National Park Service promoted in the volume, Park Structures and Facilities (1935). A stone pylon of the same design appears in the National Park Service volume. It was for Cape San Sebastian State Park, south of Gold Beach, along the Oregon Coast Highway.

Section 106 Level of Effect

Application of Section 106 Criteria for Identification and Evaluation of Historic Properties (36 CFR 800.4 and 5) indicates that the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail Project, Segments E, F, G, and H, will have No Effect to the Wygant State Park Stone Pylon.

"...entering the woods on a pair of tracks that soon dwindle down to a path."

February 16, 2020

So the route of the Wygant trail back in 1971, if I remember right, was to park on the side of the freeway and follow and old road grade from the abandoned picnic area up to where the current trails are. In 2013, up on the trails, I decided to bushwhack my way down along the creek trying to follow this old route. At first, I thought I could detect the traces of the old grade, but very soon, then whole drainage turned into a tangled mess of downed trees and, well, just mess... It was a very difficult bushwhack navigating back down to the freeway from there, and I never saw anything remotely resembling any road grade or trail between the faint traces at the top and bottom. I've spent a lot of time over the years bushwhacking my way through the Gorge, and this drainage, apparently having been hammered by many winter storms since 1971, was by far the most miserable of them all!

Unfortunately, I no longer have my copy of the old Bullard and Low book. I wish I'd preserved more of the text from these pages here.

Links

Oregon State Parks

Wygant State Natural Area

https://oregonstateparks.org/index.cfm?do=parkPage.dsp_parkPage&parkId=125

CLICK HERE to continue exploring the highway