Recreating the Old Oregon Trail Highway

US 30 Descends Into the River Marina Park. Boardman, Oregon. March 28, 2014

1. LOWER COLUMBIA RIVER HIGHWAY

CLICK HERE for pages exploring this section of the Columbia River Highway.

2. HISTORIC COLUMBIA RIVER HIGHWAY

CLICK HERE for pages exploring this section of the Columbia River Highway.

3. Upper Columbia River Highway

CLICK HERE for pages exploring this section of the Columbia River Highway.

4. Oregon: Pendleton to Ontario

CLICK HERE for pages exploring this section of the Old Oregon Trail Highway

It's time for the Spring 2022 Historic Highways Fundraiser to keep this project going!

CLICK HERE to contribute!

Where does the CRH (Route 2) end and the Old Oregon Trail Highway (Route 6) begin?

This is a tricky question and, it appears, that it is really more of a when question than a where question.

Originally, Route 2, the Columbia River Highway, was meant to run from Astoria to Pendleton, or Seaside to Pendleton, for a brief period of time.

On the eastern end, many old photo post cards from the 1920s indicate that the highway east of The Dalles was called the Old Oregon Trail Highway, not the Columbia River Highway, but earlier Oregon Highway Commission reports clearly indicate that Route 2 was the intended designation of the highway being built between The Dalles and Pendleton.

The OHC's 3rd Biennium Report clearly reports this:

No. 2. Columbia River Highway—

From Astoria east via Rainier, Portland, Hood River, The Dalles, Arlington and Umatilla, to Pendleton.

No. 6. The Old Oregon Trail—

From a junction with Highway No. 2, at Pendleton, southeasterly through La Grande, Baker and Huntington to a junction with Highway No. 5 at or near Ontario.

However, by the 5th Biennial Report, the highway between The Dalles and Pendleton was re-designated as being part of the Old Oregon Trail Highway, and not the CRH. So far, I've only seen one or two photos from that route from the report with captions calling the eastern section of the highway the Old Oregon Trail, and no text on when or why, this road was re-designated as part of Route 6, but I've yet to really dive into the 5th report so far...

But, ultimately, we have to pick a time, and for a time, the road to Pendleton was clearly considered part of the CRH, so this project will treat it as such. Even today, ODOT still has a marker on an old bridge in Rufus indicating that it is a part of Route 2, so even the state highway department seems to have never completely adopted this re-designation.