In
Automobiles, Road Trips and
Northwest Highway News
SECTION SIX
VOL. XLI
PORTLAND, OREGON, : SUNDAY MORNING, JUNE 4, 1923
NO. 23
In Hood River.
Couimi
fr
:" - . -. I i :'
J" BY li Vi L.YA1AN
WH11K construction work oa the
Clackamas county, of what .
might be called Ihe -Portland
end of the Mount Hood loop road,
Is seriously delayed "by the action of
the tax supervising and conservation
oomhtisKion In ("Uttlna- the. Multnomah ..
count- appropriation for surfacing-"
the n.-w grade out of- the budget,
activity has begun' on- a. large scale in" '
Hood River county, and the entire
valley, as well as that portion "uT the
Oregon national forest to the asfof
Mount Hood Is now a bee hive of road
building activity; ; . j. :; . :".
With the state highway tomrnis:
slon ui& Hood River, county; co
operating on a 50-50 basis" action has
been taken which will" mean-the com. -pletlon
of the new grade in the Hood
River valley this year:- Three con
tracts aggregating approximately
$260,000 have been let and. already
work is well under way which will
complete the "grade all the way from"
the point where it branches-' off the
Columbia river highway Just east of
the Hood River bridge at Hood River,
to the entrance to -the Oregon na
tional forest far up at the bead of
the Hood River valley on the north
east flanks of the mountain.
. Approximately six miles of -the new
Grade within the Oregon ' national
forest has already been built, bavins
been completed late last year, and
construction crews . have already
started the work of building this
grade on further southward, to its
ultimate union with the new . high
way extending along the south flanks
of the mountain from the Clackamas
county entrance to the Oregon na
tional forest to Government camp.
Gap Completed TfcU Summer.
Work of constructing the grade on
this gap. of, approximately, 17 . miles
miles will be completed this summer,'
a it h h n n it m a n ran u . jj. jbl. 11 n . b 11 u s t r i i uii -uii v u if h if u u u i i if fi a i i v - - i - -
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M l isBKirwse!! I B III fc tw - v .v .! - ' 111
life w; 1 H1
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III ' IflSj timfei1s,s? ' 5i,v II
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it is hoped, while gravel surfacing tors, made the run up tne Hooa itiver . - v . "s -
and brida-e bulldinir wtU' also, start . valley last: week end.. The-trip was. . - ,-. .... v - i. - .
this summer. By the middle of nexf niada in one of the pew Jewett cars.,
summer it is expected ;the-:lo'op road" : the light six.-recently broughtout by
in the Oregon national forest," which the Paige organisation, and. the .new 0f that section wbJoh .surmounts
swings cleat, behind -the mountain, car stood the demonstration In splen- B00tn hill; overcoming this fbrmid-
will b passable. Meanwhile the work' Old shape, its pertormance tnrougn
of building the nw grade up the our adding measurably to the pleas
Hood River valley Is to ; g-o' ahead: ure of the run. : . . -
rapidly and by iall It is anticipated 'The first glimpse of the newcon
th new grade . will b computed;' stroction was secured just beynd the
throughout. As grading is approach-: town of Hood River, the new road
able barrier by an easy grade. '
Horseback Trip Made.
In order to go over the new grading
work 'being done in the national
forest it was necessary to motor to
Mount Hooji - lodge", 'the - well-known
ing conclusion plans lor gravel uri branching off the Columbia river nostelry at the asa.of. the mountain
facing will be. made, and the entire highway just east of the bridge over a tew miIes .noTth of ,he' national
roaa In the valley should . be. ready the Hood, river. . . Steam shovels have torest boundary and located wtthln
by the summer of 191S. ; . already partiapy completed the work about a quarter of a mile of the loop
Thus It may be tht by the time th of Cutting out the new grade along -road location and to take horses
road In th Hood Silver valley- and the east bank. of the. Hood Mver .t irom'jthere-tof-a-W-BSU' anp"toto
throurh the Oregon national forest is this . point, the road following the -tlie forest reserve. The old road
vuiuvioicu 111.1, itwTO m Muuqiu irupu ininiuu m in. m r.v- . my u Witi the ' new con-
natiohal forest is- JfciV JTWrf SjCr 5rjT C?ST jZz'&j7l4rar& .
"on up the-' canyon" and 'to the conneo- ; line' grade' is . being-,' ibulft - in. three
tlon - at: oovernment camp : will.; be units, the total of the three contract
'poshed.; The present "" location calls reaching $243,059.50.
for the road following the bank of . Three Contracts Are Let.
-the. river for several miles more and ' f li i. .",, T '
4, . ., , ... , iiate last. :, fall . Joplin t Edn,
then , gradually climbing out of the i, . ... " " J
' , .Portland contractors, were - awarded
canyon up the ontheat bank to the. for ,54,546.60 the contract for cutting
Pa8? , f j "T the ' eW '' rad9 from Rle.
Sv Jl',. f' tnentcrosalne'ranchi In -the Odell eection; around
the -.White river and-climbing over the we9t sM8 of Booth hill Into the
that watershed to a connection with upper valiey a fractlon over fWa
-the old Barlow road at a point a mlIes. lt wa anticipated that the
short distance east of Government work would be-largely finished dur
camp.. ( ; lng tna wlnter. Heavy snows and
It was June ,7, a year ago. when continued . low temperatures, how-
, the people of Hood River ounty held ever," kept the winter camp Inactive,
a bond election to consider the ques- .'Another' delay was met with In the
tiofi of Joining with the state high, aISCOyery of huge boulder formations,
way- commission on a 50-50 basis for wnere ordinary earth excavaUon was
the. construction of the valley trunk expected. The,, contractore are
line of the Monnf Hood loop high-: e(iutpped with a .small steam ehoveL
way. as the portion, within the Hood - whtch wIU not handle the large
river valley is known, an approxl- boulders without blasting.' Work on
mate 23 miles of road that would not the-Booth Mil section will be drawn
only be. an important link In- the out through the summer as a result.
greatest -scenic ighway in America, ( simultaneously ; last winter the
put wouio. oecome . an; orchardlsts' highway eommiseion awarded con-
county from Sandy ti the Oregon .iu side road up the valley. This sec-"" stru"ctlon in the
tlonal forest boundary at Zig . Zag tion-of the road will "be of scenic rrt..'ii-.-.imnihii. t- ;ninhi
coaracicr comparaoie 10 mo traffic- at, Una ;tlme,; although Jater. " u u . .r ,ue.- is. uuiaiucu. wuuo uucasionauy - small - watenaiis- come market . route for the " entire west th-. nth.,. t ,,,.. -c a
my find Itself in-the undesirable pe-. bia river highway.; The. new- werk ,in;-tSe eummer it probably will -be fork W the level of the -.river is many , views of . Mount v Adams are plunging-over the cliffs at toe edge g!d)- OdelL middle valley and mser : wIA i' lT, .C
sitloB ef a tardy partner in the work has destroyed the old grade- and a possible foTcars -to get into the re- reached From this section of the secured. - ;, . , of the road. ' g valty .Icttons. ' TL Zm&TTJS'0-
ef completing .this greatest of all detour is necessary, cars going to the eer(re a few miles. - " " -'-' road srsat '' obtained which; Scenic .beauties of a different char- - . . . V-," ,' k,d - i'tV. ?,.Tk '.v .1 award for buUding the M-nll. grade
seenlo drives. . . , , : V ,top of the loops on the highway east The ctVnTf hew construction ' in' " ,s doubtful can be duplicated any-. acter .af e unfolded when the bottom " f N Grl, Ra 4. .... The bonds were voted by three to from th. Intersection with the Colum-
THp Made t. J.'wett Car. i i oHood River and then taking a dirt : Uifor fo.? where At several points splendid, of the canyon is reached and th. road ls at Point several miles up one and by June 7 thisjear.th, new -bia -rive, highway Just east of Hood
To obtain first-hand Impressions of road to the right ' This detouris In 0W 0f the most interesting on -ieT-lew'8 "-f Mount Hood 'are ;obtained,; foJlows the bank of the east fork of this gorge ..that construction work is grade wifl.be found underlay, from , river,, to , 4he Odell district Th.
the work now being don. on . the excellent.-shape 'and offers no ditfi-.-entW loop road. The road -wMcti at wh other points the Hood river: the Hood river., For several miles now going on, the road from the end to end. -As a result of he m .000 Johnson Construction company i
Mount Hood loop road in Hood River-cuHies.:-. ?-..." - forest boundary is 4T hu.dred' vley: a,d mMy ,5,are,mU" ei-th. highway is .chiseled out of the. national forest entrance down to the bond .issue, the Hood river valley buUdin, the 12 miles from the middle
county the writer, with Roy Burnet,. - From this "! point onward up the above the'east fork of the Hood Washington can. be seen. , . At on. rock of the bank.-.with the torrent of river and a.mileor so. along, the; proper has never w'tnesd valley te th. bounds of -the Oregoa
ale. manager of the Cook i " Gill Hoodriver valley manv views of the river, winds around the northeast" Point on the road a splendid view of-the mountain stream at one eide and river being already graded. Thte activity - of -road- construction as is national forest. The figures of the
oompsny, raise and Jewett distrlbu- new grade were secured, particularly flanks of Mount Hood, gradually de- Mount Rainier,. over 100 mlTe awaythe -towering-cliffs -on - the other, lummw work of grading the highway at present in progress, lh trunH .Concluded on Pace-2.:
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