Woelpern Horseshoe
Route 2
July 11, 2020
Looking down from above on these two grades in 2014, I thought we were seeing a case where the CRH was following an old rail grade, as happened out west of The Dalles between Chenoweth Creek and Rowena, so I thought the grade curving around the drainage was the rail grade, and the embankment fill was the CRH.
Yes, and very much no. In 2020, with the size of the fill coupled with the width of the highway, Kirk felt it was clear that the main highway fragment through here was the improved US 30 road, not the original Route 2 alignment, and suddenly we became very suspicious that this was not an old rail grade we were seeing, but actually the original Route 2 grade.
Sure enough, there was still pavement on the west end of that sucker. This was a bit of a revelation for me, and I've been looking at a lot of the Upper Highway mysteries with a new eye since then!
"A west looking view of both highways."
Photo by Steve Hart, July 12, 2020https://www.facebook.com/groups/483015922488601/permalink/757091698414354/
"Looking up at the 20s highway from the 1950s highway. Note the edge of the asphalt. Let's not talk about the experience of that tumble trail."
Photo by Steve Hart, July 12, 2020https://www.facebook.com/groups/483015922488601/permalink/757091698414354/
"20s in the foreground, 50s below."
Photo by Steve Hart, July 12, 2020https://www.facebook.com/groups/483015922488601/permalink/757091698414354/
"West end of the 1920s fragment. When the 1950s highway was built, they blasted away the 1920s road. The 50s road continues west for a bit."
Photo by Steve Hart, July 12, 2020https://www.facebook.com/groups/483015922488601/permalink/757091698414354/
Kirk J. Poole, July 13, 2020
Something I didn't notice when I was there: super-elevated curve starting into the turn above the '52 Road. Always nice to see sections with super-elevation.
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10158732110447662&set=pcb.757091698414354
"20s highway in front, 50s highway in the center..."
Photo by Steve Hart, July 12, 2020https://www.facebook.com/groups/483015922488601/permalink/757091698414354/
"More pavement on the 20s road"
Photo by Steve Hart, July 12, 2020https://www.facebook.com/groups/483015922488601/permalink/757091698414354/
"Here's what 70 years of cowpies looks like. It's easy to see where all the soil on top of the pavement came from."
Photo by Steve Hart, July 12, 2020https://www.facebook.com/groups/483015922488601/permalink/757091698414354/
Photo by Steve Hart, July 12, 2020https://www.facebook.com/groups/483015922488601/permalink/757091698414354/
Kirk J. Poole, July 14, 2020
Looks very wind-knurled to me (similar to the trees around Crown Point)
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10158732110647662&set=pcb.757091698414354
"Score Road 0, sagebrush... Something more than 0."
Photo by Steve Hart, July 12, 2020https://www.facebook.com/groups/483015922488601/permalink/757091698414354/
"Looking west from the horseshoe..."
Photo by Steve Hart, July 12, 2020https://www.facebook.com/groups/483015922488601/permalink/757091698414354/
"Loving this place!"
Photo by Steve Hart, July 12, 2020https://www.facebook.com/groups/483015922488601/permalink/757091698414354/
"Asphalt on the 1920s road."
Photo by Steve Hart, July 12, 2020https://www.facebook.com/groups/483015922488601/permalink/757091698414354/
"20s highway on the hill, 50s highway on the fill."
Photo by Steve Hart, July 12, 2020https://www.facebook.com/groups/483015922488601/permalink/757091698414354/
"Looking east from the 1920s horseshoe."
Photo by Steve Hart, July 12, 2020https://www.facebook.com/groups/483015922488601/permalink/757091698414354/
If there is still pavement here, we're going to need a shovel to find it...
Woelpern Fragments. Gilliam County, Oregon.Photo by A. F. Litt, February 27, 2020
Around this point, the Route 2 alignment becomes less clear...
Woelpern Fragments. Gilliam County, Oregon.Photo by A. F. Litt, February 27, 2020
July 11, 2020
At this cut in the US 30 alignment, it is unclear where the original highway went. There is a grade above it that could be Route 2, but if there is pavement there, it is buried deep or gone. It could have been a smaller cut, or just traveled along where the cut was made, and the grade I followed in February might have been a shoo-fly...
Below, on the shoo-fly?
"Old barrels once used to anchor fence posts."
Photo by Steve Hart, July 12, 2020https://www.facebook.com/groups/483015922488601/permalink/757091698414354/
Photo by Steve Hart, July 12, 2020https://www.facebook.com/groups/483015922488601/permalink/757091698414354/