Above, the west end of what is now thought of as the HCRH.

While this segment is the current, official route of the Historic Columbia River Highway, for the first decade or so, until the designation of the highway as U.S. 30 and the shift in the primary route from Baseline / Stark to Sandy Road, this segment was actually a secondary feeder of the CRH.

Until this, the primary feeder was considered to be Baseline Road, and the highway itself was considered to begin after crossing the Stark Street Bridge.

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

The roadway between the Sandy River Bridge at Troutdale and the Sandy River (Stark Street) Bridge was added as a second access route to the CRH, a few years after work originally began on the highway.

...

The portion of the CRH from the Sandy River to its junction with Larch Mountain Road (HMP 23), retains its original character as a country road. All of this section, except for 1.5 miles of the 2.5 miles between the Sandy River (Troutdale) Bridge and the Sandy River (Stark St.) Bridge, predates the highway. It was part of an extensive farm-to-market road system in eastern Multnomah County that radiated from Portland to its hinterland.

The 1.5 miles of improvements, which is immediately north and west of the Sandy River (Stark Street) Bridge, is a water-level alignment created through substantial cliff side cuts along the Sandy River. It was built in 1916 as part of the CRH’s original construction and bypassed a county road connecting with the Sandy River Bridge at Troutdale that had 20 percent grades.

"After crossing the steel bridge... over the Sandy River, completed in 1912, the Columbia River Highway followed the old wire trail along the east bank of the Sandy a short distance to where the wire trail left the river and turned up the embankment..."

"In January 1914, county commissioners decided to make improvements to both Baseline Road (Stark) and the road from Troutdale to the Nielson Bridge [original Stark Street Bridge] in order to connect the Sandy Road to the CRH. ... By October 1914, construction of the segment between the bridges was underway. In November, commissioners proposed a bond issue to pave the Sandy River section (8.6 miles) from the Troutdale Bridge to the highway and to pave the Columbia River Highway to the county line (20.5 miles)."

Oregon State Archives: A 1940 Journey Across Oregon

The road cuts between the cliffs and the waters at the SANDY RIVER,174.5 m. [West of Hwy. 730 Junction] This stream, flowing from the glaciers on the south slope of Mount Hood, was discovered by Lieut. William Broughton on October 30, 1792, and named Barings River for an English family. The bluffs near the river mouth now bear the name of the discoverer. Lewis and Clark passed this point on November 3, 1805, and in their Journals record the immense quantities of sand thrown out. They wrote: "We reached the mouth of a river on the left, which seemed to lose its waters in a sandbar opposite, the stream itself being only a few inches in depth. But on attempting to wade across we discovered that the bed was a very bad quicksand, too deep to be passed on foot.... Its character resembles very much that of the river Platte. It drives its quicksand over the low grounds with great impetuosity and ... has formed a large sandbar or island, three miles long and a mile and a half wide, which divides the waters of the Quicksand river into two channels." The river is noted locally for its annual run of smelt (eulachan), which ascend in millions each spring to spawn. When they appear the word goes out that "the smelt are running Sandy." Cars soon crowd the highways, while hundreds of people snare the fish with sieves, nets, buckets, sacks or birdcages. (Special license required, 5c)

Past and Present Views Along the Columbia River Highway

Jonathan Ledbetter, October 10, 2020:

Turns out rockfall mitigation didn't just happen near the tunnels -- the Sandy River portion of the CRH has high cliffs that also need attention. These photos, taken in 1938 and retrieved from the Oregon State Archives, show such work in progress.

Past and Present Views Along the Columbia River Highway

Kirk J. Poole, October 11, 2020:

1938 Plate? Also, a VERY early "E-Plate" for Publicly Owned vehicles!

Jonathan Ledbetter, October 11, 2020:

Yes sir. In '38 that "E" was surrounded by different symbols to denote which level of government the vehicle was. I don't have my license plate info in front of me, but I presume that means "state-owned". I own one with the "E" in a diamond.

Kirk J. Poole, October 11, 2020:

I still don't know why they chose the letter 'E'. At one time, it must have made sense...

Jonathan Ledbetter, October 11, 2020:

A lot of west coast states used "E" for "exempt." California and Nevada also used "E," including placing it inside different symbols for different jurisdictions. Nevada eventually simplified all of them into a stacked "EX" around 1976, and California simply started issuing all-numerical exempt plates for all jurisdictions in the late 1990s-2000s. Off the top of my head, Oregon eventually settled on using a small "E" with a single serial range, but divvied out blocks to entities like schools and irrigation districts. These were all consolidated in the early 1960s into a single "publicly owned" group.

Past and Present Views Along the Columbia River Highway

Kirk J. Poole, October 11, 2020:

Double-like! I used to have a few dozen plates back to the silver ones with metal tabs. I decided not to go down another rat hole, as I tend to collect too MANY things (don't we all?). BUT HEY...if you have a website on OR license plates or any club / group write ups, I'd sure love to see any!

Jamen Lee, October 13, 2020:

The fender on that truck is pretty similar to the one that’s on the abandoned stretch of HCRH near Wyeth... it would make sense if it came off an odot truck!

Kirk J. Poole, October 11, 2020:

I still don't know why they chose the letter 'E'. At one time, it must have made sense...

Jonathan Ledbetter, October 11, 2020:

A lot of west coast states used "E" for "exempt." California and Nevada also used "E," including placing it inside different symbols for different jurisdictions. Nevada eventually simplified all of them into a stacked "EX" around 1976, and California simply started issuing all-numerical exempt plates for all jurisdictions in the late 1990s-2000s. Off the top of my head, Oregon eventually settled on using a small "E" with a single serial range, but divvied out blocks to entities like schools and irrigation districts. These were all consolidated in the early 1960s into a single "publicly owned" group.

Links

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