8 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 2017
Local
Dooley Mountain’s Hwy. 245: A History
Submitted Photo.
John J. Dooley (seated) and Jeremiah J. Dooley (standing).
Submitted Photo.
An old poster for the Wagon Road.
Submitted Photo.
Submitted Photo.
An early photo of Bridgeport.
Asa Knapp Dooley.
BY CURT DOOLEY
News@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Is it the windiest, scariest
road in eastern Oregon?
(It is if your first trip over
it was with the late Bob
Bowen, driving his big
old Ford at 60 mph up the
mountain with one hand
on the wheel and the other
hand holding his cigarette).
Or simply a beautiful old
mountain highway? (It is
if Mrs. Dooley is driving
at 23 mph, fretting about
the lack of guard rails).
Either way, it is the Dooley
Mountain Highway, aka
Oregon Highway 245.
In September 1862, my
great-great-grandfather,
John J. Dooley and his
wife, Phoebe, arrived in
what is now Baker County,
in the then-bustling new
community of Auburn.
Their wagon train included
I.B. Bowen and his wife
Ann (who was also John’s
sister) and their children;
John’s brother, Jeremiah
and his wife, Christiana;
Honora Dooley, the wid-
owed Irish-born mother
of John, Jeremiah, and
Ann; as well as Johanna
O’Brien, a school teacher
who subsequently mar-
ried early Baker County
pioneer William Pack-
wood, and a few others. It
was in early 1863 when the
Dooley brothers followed
the gold strikes to Idaho
City, Idaho.
Meanwhile in 1861,
considerable gold had
been discovered at Clark’s
Creek, several miles
southeast of Bridgeport,
Oregon. At that time,
supplies were packed from
Baker City over the old
Creighton Road, crossing
the Burnt River near where
Hereford now is, and then
down the river on the south
side to these mines where
there were some stores and
a post office. Bridgeport
is on the south bank of the
river, which could then
not be forded. There was
a real need for a wagon
road and a shorter route to
connect Baker City to the
placer camps of Malheur
and the Eldorado district.
In response to this need,
Dr. Jacob Boyd, James
Virtue (another early
pioneer who married one
of the daughters of I.B.
Bowen and Ann [Dooley]
Bowen) and others formed
the Wagon Road and
Bridge Company to begin
construction of a toll road
that would connect Baker
City to the placer camps of
Malheur and the Eldorado
district. This road went up
Trail Creek to the heads of
Beaver and Sutton Creeks
to about the head of Dark
Canyon, down Cutter
Gulch to Auburn Gulch,
then to the Burnt River. A
stage station was located
at about the head of Trail
Creek where the stage
driver stopped for noon
meals and to exchange
the stage team for a fresh
team. A tollgate was
located on the north side of
the mountain.
According to The Orego-
nian (August 7, 1926), the
road was made passable
for the entire distance over
the mountain in 1869.
At the south end of this
road (on the south side
of the mountain), where
it crossed the river, there
was a bridge some 200 feet
long. Since this bridge
was the terminus of the
toll road, and since they
wanted to give the point
some name, they decided
to call it Bridgeport.
In June 1871, John
Dooley and his brother,
Jeremiah Dooley, moved
back to Baker County from
Idaho City, where they
had made a fair amount of
money mining and selling
water rights.
Later in 1871, John and
Phoebe Dooley, with mon-
ey they had saved in Idaho
City, purchased James
Virtue’s interest in the
Wagon Road and Bridge
Company. This included
land in Bridgeport on the
south side of the mountain
as well as the bridge over
the Burnt River, for $500.
In 1872 they bought Dr.
Boyd’s half for another
$500. The toll gate on the
north side of the mountain
was moved to the 200-
foot bridge on the south
side and a home was built,
which they called “Toll-
gate.”
The gate itself was a
log that swung round
and round. The toll was
$.50 for horse and rider,
$2.00 a team, $4.00 for
a four-horse team. The
January 16th, 1935 issue
of The Democrat Herald
wrote, “The financial good
fortune of the venture was
often attested by the fact
that many times as much
as $1000 was kept in the
Dooley cabin for several
days [nearly $20,000 in
today’s dollars]. Fifty
dollars was often collected
in a few hours’ time from
wagon trains passing
through.” Despite that,
Phoebe Dooley once said,
“We rarely had a gun in the
house; Pa couldn’t shoot
anyway.”
Tollgate
John and Phoebe lived at
the Tollgate for 17 years.
Dooley’s Tollgate served
as a rest stop, stage stop,
mountain house (providing
meals and hospitality to
travelers), and the wagon
road was the most direct
route between Baker City
and Bridgeport, as well
as several booming placer
mining camps. Because
of this, large bands of In-
dians occasionally passed
through Tollgate while on
their migrating journeys.
Also due to its strategic lo-
cation, US Cavalry troops
were stationed there from
time to time when there
were conflicts between the
Indians and the whites.
In 1889, John and
Phoebe Dooley sold Toll-
gate and the toll road to
Baker County “for a sum
sufficient for him to retire
on.” When asked why
they sold Tollgate, Phoebe
replied, “To educate the
children.” John and Phoebe
then moved to Baker City.
If anyone wonders where
my inheritance all that toll
road money went, one sim-
ply needs to look at the St.
Francis de Sales Cathedral
and photos of the old St.
Francis Academy.
The mountain itself was
subsequently named after
John Dooley, though one
is hard-pressed to find
any signage to that effect,
though it certainly existed
at one time.
Wikipedia writes, “The
Dooley Mountain Highway
can be traced to a private
toll road constructed in the
mid-19th century. It was
owned by John J. Dooley,
an eastern Oregon pioneer
who arrived in 1862, and
the mountain was subse-
quently named after him.
In 1889, it was acquired by
Baker County and became
a public road.
“The road was made part
of the Baker-Unity High-
way in 1917. In 1932, the
Baker-Unity Highway was
designated OR 7.
“In 1981, the Baker-
Unity Highway was di-
vided between the Whitney
Highway No. 71 and the
Dooley Mountain High-
way. The Dooley Mountain
Highway was redesignated
OR 245.”
So is the Dooley Moun-
tain Highway scary, or
beautiful? Yes.
Editor’s Note:
Curt Dooley also recom-
mends a book “The Dooley
Family: From the Emerald
Island to the Inland Em-
pire,” by Bowen, available
at Betty’s Books in Baker
City.
Dooley is the great-
great grandson of John J.
Dooley, the early Baker
County pioneer.
He was born and raised
in Seattle but has been to
Baker City many times
(and loves it).
He is an Air Force
veteran and currently the
Manager of Security and
Emergency Preparedness
for a large healthcare
company.