CLICK HERE for State Trail Plans: Shellrock Mountain

Eva Emery Dye, Morning Oregonian: Building of Columbia River Highway Greatest Achievement of Kind in Western Hemisphere (1916)

“But you can never build a road around Shell Rock Mountain!”, old-timers jeered when “the godfather of good roads” talked of a Columbia River Highway, “It can’t be did!”

Simon Benson took a look at Shell Rock Mountain, a shaly [sic], shifting, disintegrating point of rock. Had he not seen roads in Norway, the home of good roads? Simon Benson handed Governor Oswald West $10,000 to establish a convict camp of “honor men” to build a solid road around Shell Rock. By Spring it was done. But with the first jar, down fell the walls on the railroad track below.

“Here! here!” cried the O.W.R. & N. officials. “This will never do! No road can be built above us! All your money is wasted.”

“No,” Simon Benson decided, “the money is not wasted. It has served a good purpose. It shows we must have intelligent engineering skill.”

Oregon State Archives: A 1940 Journey Across Oregon

SHELL ROCK MOUNTAIN, 136.9 m. [West of Hwy. 730 Junction] (2,068 alt.), is opposite WIND MOUNTAIN, which is in Washington. The Indians believed that the Great Spirit set the whirlwinds blowing in constant fury about Wind Mountain as a punishment to those who, breaking the taboo, had taught the white men how to snare salmon.

1914 Elliott Report

Shellrock Mountain, as the name implies, is a mountain of shellrock extending in a uniform slope for about 1,500 feet above the river and being 4000 feet around on the highway. The O-W.R.R.& N. Co. track is located at the foot of this mountain. At the west end the railroad company operated a steam shovel for some time excavating the toe. Here there is ample clearance for both railroad and highway.

It was for building a road around this mountain that Mr. S. Benson gave to the county $10,000.00. This money was expended for work by convicts. The class of work was of the poorest type giving no evidence of any engineering except a few stakes and hubs. The roadbed was built only 14 feet wide in places with no definite width prevailing.

ODOT, Cultural Landscape Inventory: Shellrock Mountain to Ruthton Point - Historic Columbia River Highway

Shellrock Mountain is one of the landmark features of the HCRH. Its bare slopes are covered in a deep, unstable talus formed from dioritic and basaltic rock. The relatively few trees form dark streaks down its sides. The instability and danger of rock fall made the site a challenging one for road building. Elliot’s work was further complicated by the necessity of removing a previous road built by convict labor.

The earlier road was not only dangerous because of its hairpin turns and steep grades, the retaining walls were badly laid “with the apparent intention of making each rock go as far as it could” (Elliot 1914). Elliot replaced these walls with a carefully crafted stone retaining wall. The 4,000 feet of the HCRH that skirted Shellrock Mountain were notable for the dramatic talus slopes above, the impressive rock retaining walls and rubble masonry parapet guard wall along this stretch, and the proximity of the road to the Columbia River.

This section of the HCRH was replaced by the water-level highway. Only fragments of the retaining walls and the original roadbed remain. Nevertheless, this is one of the most interesting of the abandoned segments of the highway. The mountain itself and is impressive. Remains of the rock walls and parapet along the HCRH alignment, and traces of the old military wagon road enhance the historical interest of the area.

Topography

The overall topography of this portion of the HCRH is characterized by an even grade around the toe of the mountain, below the talus slopes. There are two rock cuts that remain, each about 100 feet long and 70-90 feet high.

Buildings and Structures

Two fragments of retaining wall remain. The first is about 400 feet long near the west end of the section, built of large, ashlar and hewn basalt or diorite stone. This is about 6 feet tall, but the top of it is broken in many places. The stones vary from coursed in some areas to random in others. Fragments of wall, concrete, and of mortared rubble masonry parapet are piled along the top of the wall, and talus has accumulated there as well. These wall fragments reveal how thick this retaining wall is, and the size of the stones used in it. The second retaining wall, located about two thousand feet east of the first, is about 150 feet long and 10 feet high, but like the first the top is broken or missing in places. The stones are hewn basalt, laid in a random arrangement with some mortar at least at the top. This second wall is buried in vegetation and overgrown with trees. It is in poor condition, but impressive nevertheless.

Circulation

Only two fragments of HCRH pavement remain in the Shellrock Mountain section.

"Later [1914], a stone wall was built to contain rock fall. The talus slope of Shellrock Mountain was a barrier to a road through the Gorge for years."

How not to approach the old highway fragments along Shellrock... (Before the State Trail!)

About the shoulder around Shellrock, been there, done that, not going back again - I walked on top of the 6-8" wide concrete barrier secure in the knowledge that even though I might die the offending vehicle would suffer some fender damage.

Links

OregonHikers.org: Trail Trace on Shellrock Mountain (Columbia Gorge)

https://www.oregonhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2222&start=10&hilit=wagon+road+shellrock

CLICK HERE to continue exploring the highway