Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (July 25, 1920)
SECTION SIX Pages 1 to 10 Automobiles, Road Trips and Northwest Highway News VOL. xxxix. PORTLAND, OREGON, SUNDAY 3IORXIXG, JULY 23, 1920 xo. so THROUGH BIG TIMBER TO ASTORIA OVER THE INLAND HIGHWAY Mitchell Scout Car Finds Detour Route Over the Hills From Clatskanie to Mist and Down, the Nehalem Valley, While Main Highway Is Paved, in Fine Condition and One of Beautiful Scenery. r 4 Ci tf! V" V;; HJ-U 4 ! IMYiY &lSi!ftt r ifov ; i i f T t: " . . . 7 : 1 .. : .: "::. :.::' - :::.: fs.,--. - - - " " 0t M-anMM : 4k r "WW! -t, iv-.-.i s-r .... -. . - V -A -V "i " ii.' I I ' I 5 J 1 ! 4 "t'vty.xV '.it ni'.W S .Z lire-' v . i 5 ! BY L. H. GREGORY. , HAVE you ever driven to Astoria over the Inland highway? Fol lowed this beautiful winding: road of gravel or plank bottom through the meadows of the moun tain-surrounded Nehalem valley? Run along: tree tunnels cut through the forests where fir and spruce and ce dar of great size grow in vast groves for mile after scenic mile? And then up and over the hump behind Saddle mountain, across the timbered divide to the Young's river side, and finally Into Astoria from the top of the hills guarding that city from the rear? Oregon has many .scenic roads, but none surpassing this one In charm. It combines the scenery of mountain travel, of the deep, cool for ests, of the simple life in the farm ing sections of the Nehalem valley, a region of marvelous fertility. It traverses much mountain country, yet is always, better than mountain road. After the Columbia river . highway above Crown point there Is no tour In the state more impressive to the tourist. But if you hi-ve not made this drive the time is growing short. For the most part its mighty trees have not been reached by the logger, but he is drawing near them. Timber com panies own virtually the whole for est region through which it passes. Two years, three vears. perhaps by great good fortune five or six, and the quiet of the forest will give way to the crashing of trees. Save the Itoadalde Trees. Then, unless some plan can be de vised for saving the timber along the highway for 100 feet or so to each side, S3 in California they are now saving the redwoods for the delight of future generations, this now beau tiful road no longer will be beautiful. It will pass through a wilderness of stumps and bare snags, standing there like shafts of cold stone in a cemetery to the memory of those who have gone. No one then will want to travel this road. There never was a better oppor tunity to make the drive to Astoria over the Inland highway than at pres ent, for the main lower Columbia river highway from Clatskanie to As toria is now closed from 7:30 A. M. to 6:33 P. M. each week day for pav ing operations. At Clatskanie a state . highway department detour sign di rects motorists who don't want to wa't until after 6:30 o'clock for the main highway to take the road over the hill between Clatskanie and Mist. 10 miles, and thence to Astoria by the iniana highway. Motorists, however, have been timid about attempting the trp by this route. They have heard that road conditions are bad. Even at Clats kanie garage men have the impres sion that there is very rough going by the Inland route, and advise trav elers to wait until evening so they can drive over t:.e main highway. The result is that few are taking the Inland route and traffic over It is very light. ' Inland Highway Good. So far as road conditions are con cerned, the' writer can give advice just the reverse, and it is based on first-hand intimation. To ascertain exact conditions on the Inland high way we drove over It last Saturday, following the highway department's detour route from Clatskanie to Mist, in a Mitchell six piloted by Ray Al- y :wwwMw-woc.xw.wxg.w. wwwwufwwKmwww i ii.'i'ryfl:'sy1Ti: . ..r . y JP "' . ' " L :v : .' : ivJ : - : -' 5- ''. 11 C 1 , fii, V I rJV l. V) Jjl T- .:-.vinf V s-. 1J bee of the Mitchell, Lewis & Staver company. From Clatskanie to In front of the Weinhard hotel in Astoria is 39.5 miles by main highway, as against 56.4 miles by the Inland highway, making the main highway 16.9 miles shorter. On the main highway there Is also 16.3 miles of pavement outside the city limits of Astoria or was last week, though paving crews will add to this -each week as against only 2.8 miles by Inland highway. By rea son of the shorter distance and more pavement a driver can make faster which is stating it liberally. Nearly time by an hour or hour and a half three miles of this is descending on over the main highway. But the Inland highway Is vastly more scenic, and Its unpaved road Is better beyond comparison than the rough macadam, full of chuck holes, bouncy and rough, that Jars up trav elers for the better part of 20 miles along the main highway. Only 3Vi Mllea of Poor Ilod. Of the 56.4 miles from Clatskanie via Mist, Jewel and Olney on to As toria, there is not more than , three and one-half miles of poor road, the Mist side of the high divide be tween Clatskanie and Mist, where on and off, with good stretches inter spersing for the better part of that distance the road, mainly dirt, has been deeply rutted. It would be troublesome in wet weather, but will give little bother in dry, especially on the descent. So ' if you have an afternoon to spare, instead of waiting at Clats kanie for the main highway to icpen, head your car at the detour sign straight ahead up the hill out of that town. Before you is a drive that. after you have made it once, you will want others to take likewise and enjoy. It is possible to make the Inland hlehwav drive from Portland out Ter- wllliger boulevard and the paved Tualatin highway to Forest Grove, thence by way of Gales City, Timber and .Vernonia to Mist. That is con siderably longer. Most motorists will prefer the main highway to Clats kanie. there striking over the hill and joining the Inland route 10 miles in at Mist. On the main highway there still re mains the 12 miles of rough going between Scappoose and just this side of Deer Island, with a short sandwich of half a mile of pavement just the other side of St. Helens. But other wise, of the 65.8 miles to Clatskanie, 63.8 miles are now paved. It is easy to make Clatskanie now In two and a half to three hours. I'p the Hill From Clatakanle. At Clatskanie, mileage 65.8, keep straight, ahead at the detour sign. The road Is of smooth macadam. For three miles and a half it climbs gent- Photos by X. U. Gregory. Iv with short descents, but at mileage 69. from Portland by the speedometer of the Mitchell six, it really begins to ascend. Ahead of you is a tim bered ridge and up toward the sum mit winds the road. Up it goes, on an Intermediate grade, smooth going underfoot, plen ty of room for passing other cars bound down. For two miles it climbs, now and then looping itself in long switchbacks, beautifully laid out. Mountain road, but first-class moun tain road. As you cltmb and w-uig now ahead, now back in the direction o which you came, on switchbacks along the side of projecting ridges, a rare view unspreads of the Colum bia river far below, the Clatskanie lowlands and timbered hills in Wash ington. At the summit the good road tem porarily peters out. There is a short stretch of dirt, somewhat cut up, couple of hundred feet of corduroy then more dirt, rutted considerably, but with stretches of good gravel. At mileage 72.2 begins the descent. On this side of the ridge there is fine i (Concluded on Pase 6, Column 1.)
