SECTION SIX
Automobiles, Road Trips and
Northwest Highway News
VOL. XL
PORTLAND, OREGON, SUNDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 23, 1921
NO. 4.1
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BY "W. H. LYMAN.
WITH the orenliur of the new "
pavement on the west side
route to Oregon City Thurs- , , '
day, that - trafflo channel, wnlch by I '
the way Is the real location of the I
Taclflo highway from Portland to
Oreson City, is now negotiable all I '
the way without detours and an lm- fr
portant tcp In completing- thi link t'j
of the highway haa been made. Pave- f-
ment now extends from Portland up f j
the west bank of the Willamette to j
within a little more than half a J j
mile of the west end of the bridge at i
Oregon City, and the unpaved por- '!
tlon posse.es hard gravel surface, i
which renders It fit for travel the j :
year rounj. j i
Important work In the way of con- ( i
tructlon of the new bridge at Ore
gon City across the 'Willamette and
paving of the last half mile of tho !
road remains to be done tje?ir this t
highway is completed, and for the
next year or more the east side route j
through Milwaukle will continue to i
bear the majority of the traffic. '
With conttacts which have already '
been let, the completion of the west i
side route is now in aight. however,
and before many months are passed
both east and west side routes to f
Oregon City will be finished. The I
paving work on the west side this
year, while not bringing the road to
completion, has been of utmost lm- t
portance in providing a paved outlet !
for Oswego lake and the surround-
Ing eection into Portland.
Nearly Mx Miles Paved.
Through the contract which was I
let on the road this year, a total of
5.72. miles of pavement has been !'
completed, extending from the Aluit- j
nomah county line, near the top of t
Elk rock.--a shnrt distance north of '
Oswego station, southward.. -. .
.This brlnss the pavement to wi'.hln ;
JUOO feet of the west end of the pre- I
gone City bridge. raving' of this .
last stretch of a little more . than i
half a mile will, no doubt, be com
pleted next year. There was some
thought on the part of the ctate f
highway commission of completing !
thia stretch this fall, but thia seems '
now to have been given up. Uncer
tainty In regard to adequate ferry
ervice after the bridge there Is aban-
oned to make way for the new bridge
now being constructed Is ald to have
played a part in the decision to post
pone raving this la'st section at thia
time.
Work on the 1 miles of pavement
Just thrown open to use was ctarted
May 9 at the Multnomah county line,
and the work was carried southward
as rapidly as possible. Pouring was
completed September 23. and the last
"til"" epiTUM to travel Thursday.
October Co. The Scundia shipbuilding
company of .V.Hrshfitld received the
contr u-t and carri.d on the work, and
the irsi was approximately $20,000.
While sections of the highway had
been opened from time to time during
the eummer, as they were completed,
11 was not until Thursday that the
entire nuw road ftia available for
traffic.
Job One of State's neat.
This atretch of paving is, without
question, one of the finest concrete
jobs In the state of Oregon. The
pavement Is II feet In width, widened
on the curves, and Is of a uniform
thickness of seven Inches. Steel re
inforcing is used, this being the first
Of z'rrr r
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would be solved by the counties and
towns Interested, and a free ferry
service is expected, although nothing
of definite nature has as yet been
done.
t WILLAMETTE ItOAD FINISHED
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Hisliway From Eugene In
Cut to Crater Luke.
EUGENE, Or.. Oct. 22. (Special.)
This season's work on the old mil
itary road up the Willamette river
over the summit of the Cascades to
Klamath county has Just been com
pleted, and J. E. Carlisle, who had
charge of the worL, which was under
the Joint direction rf Lane county
and the forest service, has returned
to Eugene with his cr.w.
According to Mr. Carlisle's records vanla,
the crew this year smoothed up l top.
miles of the old grade on the west
side of the summit and' built four
miles of new road to eliminate bad
pulls. Four miles of "swamping
clearing were required.
baldl beach. The county extended X. D. Darlington of the state high
the road from Hockaway to Manhat- way commission, in addressing a del
tan early in the spring, and as there egatlon representing the Tahoe-Uklah
will not be sufficient funds to com- Highway association, which appeared
plete the road and make connections before the commission to urge the
with the road at Brighton, those who opening up of new work on the road,
are interested In the project hope to both as a means for relieving the un-
have it completed next year by employment situation and hurrying
Short special tax. . the completion of the project.
, ; Miadful of the labor, situation,
MAXWH.Ii I'KOVKS CLIMBER Darlington said It Is the plan of the
. commission to handle all the work
V,
Stiff Grade.
ALTOOXA, Pa., Oct. 22. Emery B.
McXoldy of Altoona, Pa., recently
started on a fishing trip with five
friends In a Maxwell touring car.
Their road took them over the moun
tains of Huntingdon county, Ponnsyl-
long haul of ten miles to the
At the top they met a mountaineer
who stated that he bad lived up there
six years and had never seen an auto
mobile go over that road. The fact
that the Maxwell made the climb with
On the Klamath county side of the six passengers was almost ' beyond
mountains this crev.- built' 3090 feet comprehension to him.
of new road in one section and 154S So steep, was the pitch of the road
feet In. another and smoothed up that second gear was used as a brake
seven miles of the old road. In going down. . Mr. McXoldy states
The work this year placed the road that the Maxwell covered the entire
.in. good shape for automobile . trafflo trip of 104 miles with one, pint of oil,
over this route and Mr. Carlisle said no water and a little less than five
that any kind of a car Is now able gallons of gasoline, aesplte the fact
to make the trip. Only one bad hill 'that It was overloaded. '
remains where the grade is excessive
Auto With Six Passengers Conquers of which the organization Is capable.
out in ordering new construction, aia-
or
tribution is an Important factor due
to the fact that funds available will
fall several million dollars short of
the building programme.
In this connection It was pointed
out by Darlington that work on the
Tahoe-Uklah road Is further along
than any of the other new projects.
Members of the committee asked that
contracts be let In each of the several
counties where no work at present Is
being done on the road, but the com
mission made It plain that It desired
to be bound by no promises at this
time.
James . K. O'Brien of Smartsvllle
asked that the utility of the road as
a -whole be considered when the com
mission Is ready to order new units
of work.
case of pavement of this kind being
laid in Oregon, and probably the first
of the kind In the northwest. Keen
Interest Is being shown by highway
engineers In this work, and it will
be closely watched to see how It
stands up.
While the cost was necessarily high,
it was believed that only the . very
best type of pavement should be laid.
In view of the tremendous traffic
which this road ultimately will carry.
The stei-1 rp-inforclng consists of lat
eral bars. ha!f an inch thick, placed
elx Inchts from each edge of the pave
ment and laid every five feet.
To Inspect the new highway the
writer made the run over it last week
with representatives of the North
west Auto company In a Reo six. Al
though the big automobile firm on
upper Alder street handles four well
known lines of cars, the Beo was
chosen for the run, as this car has
rapidly climbed into position among
the leaders In tne popular light six
class. Needless to say, no difficulty
open at that time, the Reo was able
to cover all but the last half mile of
the new road, negotiating thia dis
tance over a detour. This last half
mile Is the final stretch of pavement
which, was opened to travel last
Thursday.
The run over the west side route to
Oregon City Is now one of the most
attractive; short automobile trips It
is possible to take from Portland.
While the entrance to the highway
out South First street and Macadam
street is unattractive, and while it
Is hoped that the city may at a not
distant date provide a more direct and
more attractive artery of travel
through this section, the highway It
self, after the Riverview cemetery Is
reached. Is unusually attractive. For
-several miles the road skirls along
the hillside above the river, first bor
dering the cemetery grounds, and then
through the upper river residential
section, where are some of the most
beautiful homes in Portland.
By a series of curves up the hill-
of any kind was encountered on the ida- the cllmb to toP of Elk Roc1'
Xun. la maae vuooat any Bleep graaes.
although, the pavement was not and from there the decline to Ofiwego
Is made at an easy grade also. This
section of the highway Is particularly
attractive, a beautiful view of the
Willamette river being obtained from
the highway at the top of Elk Rock.
From Oswego the highway crosses the
handsome Oswego viaduct and skirts
the hillside towards Oregon City,
again offering a splendid view of the
liver and surrounding country. The
Oswego arch, which haa been com
pleted a couple of years and was the
first piece of permanent work, aside
from grading, on this highway, is as
attractive a bridge . as there is In
Oregon, being of concrete with a
large central span gracefully pro
portioned. Oregoa City Bridge Begun.
Work has already been started on
the new Willamette river bridge at
Oregon City, and the completion of
this structure is now the most Im
portant work on the west side route
remaining to be completed. The
structure will coat in the neighbor
hood of 1213.000 and will take 18
months to finish. It Is estimated.
Work of sinking the pier on the west
Ida has already begun, while sup
plies and materials are being assem
bled In a way to indicate that work
on a large scale will start shortly.
This new bridge will be a handsome
single-span structure of steel and
concrete, and will be high enough
above the river to allow for river
transportation without a drawbridge.
The construction will be what is
known as "gunnite" steel rein
forced with a coating of concrete,
blown upon It.
According to the contract, the old
bridge now used by traffic may be
removed by the bridge company any
time that Is desired after January 1,
and it Is presumed that immediately
after that date work on tearing down
this old suspension structure will
etart. The new bridge will occupy
the same site as the present structure
and tearing down the old bridge is,
of course, necessary before work
progresses very far on the new span.
Some plan for providing ferry serv
ice across the river at Oregon City
must be -worked out, 'or there will be
no other means rt crossing the river
at that point. It has been under-
and this is only about 50 feet long.
It is on Emigrant hill. It is planned
next year to build 7527 feet of new
road around this hill and when this
work Is completed no driver should
complain of excessive grades or any
bad places in the road, said the super- win, state register of motor vehicles.
ROAD IS CJjOSED TO DRUNKS
Motor Director of Massachusetts
Takes Drastic Steps.
BOSTON, Oct. 22. Frank A. Good-
XI RE UNCOVERS GOLD NUGGET
IWowout on. Mountain Road Brings
Unusual Reward.
MARYSVILLE. Cal., Oct. 22. Mo
torists will do' well 'to look around
hereafter before they cay things
when a tire explodes while they are
motoring in the mountains.
Touring at Smartsvllle, Ted O'Con
nor of Marysvllle heard a tire blow
out. He also "exploded." He felt
better, however, when he discovered,
he says, that the blowout had uncov
ered a gold nugget valued at 118. He
exhibited a nugget to prove his claim.
O'Connor is now changing history.
The old story of the mule which
kicked a bank and unearthed gold
nuggets can now be put on the sholf.
HITCHING POSTS FOR AUTOS
Sacramento Pluns Parkins I'laec
for Visitors Curs.
SACRAMENTO. Cal.. Oct. 22. The
enterprising city of the past, ' eager
to encourage the farmerr traoe. bulit
cial.) A special road meeting of road California Will Continue Construe- hitching posts and established wa-
lntendont.
The crew, which averaged in num
ber 14 men throughout the season,
began its work in April and ceased
operations October 15. The amount
of money available for the project
from the county and forest service
was $12,000.
It is predicted that this route will
takes for his motto the saying that an
ounce of prevention is better than a
pound of cure. After establishing a
record for one day recently by revok
ing or suspending the registration
certificates or operators' licenses of
65 automobillsts, the majority be
cause the owners or operators had
been convicted of operating their cars
become a popular one from this time while under the Influence of liquor,
on as a short cut to Crater lake, he said:
While the road is not of standard
highway width and is not macadam
ised or even graveled. It is a fine
mountain summer road and good
speed can be made over it with any
kind of a car.
Tillamook Tax Proposed.
TILLAMOOK, Or., Oct. 22. (Spe-
"The highways should not be open
to drunken automobillsts. It Is bet
ter to revoke registration certificates
and take the machines from the road
and revoke the licenses of operators
before persons are killed than after."
HIGHWAY WORK ALL WINTER
district No. 1, which embraces about
one-third of the county In the north
section, has been called to meet at
the Rockaway school house on No
vember 6 for the purpose of levying
tion Year Around.
tering troughs.
The city manager and city council
SACRAMENTO, Cal., Oct 22. That of Sacramento are now planning to
state highway construction will not establish a park where country vlsl-
be allowed to lag during the coming tors can park their cars. A police,
winter, but Instead will be forced man would be stationed there t
a special road tax for that district.
The object of a special road tax Is to ahead. Just as rapidly as possible, is a guard the cars against theft.
stood, however, that this problem build tn oad. from, Brighton to-Garl- statement mads hers by. Chairman. Iha-vorld "do move,"