Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 1922)
SECTION SIX 21 - V Automobiles, Road Trips and Northwest Highway News VOL. XL I PORTLAND, OREGON, SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 12, 1923 NO. 4G MX. ST. HELEHS-X MT. ADAMS V PORTLAND IjSWISTON 7 S V .y feS?. Mill -i- r : . ' -v- ' -A" - - -jo? ' . ?6- ' i ps y. Section ofNewJZo&d Between L76rjnde m a .1 si r -i 2 ' Important position than the Old BY H. W. LT1IAN. FROM the standpoint of automo bile tourist travel into Oregon ward towards the desert wastes of no highway m the entire state, Nevada, barring perhaps the I'acifio high- To provide this modern pathway for the motorists into Oregon, as well as to provide an Improved road fnr the lnrn.l uses of that nortmii Oregon Trail, the east-and-west link of the Btate the OId 0reffon Trail. V of the state system connecting with following the route of the early tne coiumDia river highway at i"en- pioneers, is now being constructed, dleton and running southeasterly to It extends from Ontario at the east the state line at Ontario. This route ern border of the state to Pendle 1s now rapidly being completed with ton, where it joins the Columbia new grade and macadamized sur- river highway. The two roads to face, and by this time next year it gether are thus designed to pro will be an accomplished fact, an- vide a continuous improved route other important link completed m across the breadth of Oregon. Oregon's great highway system. The importance of the Old Ore gon Trail lies in the fact that it is the direct route into Oregon and the Pacific northwest from the cen tral transcontinental highway sys tem. During the past year thou sands of motorists followed this A. r. ' - A V 'x 1 "A Orefion Trail 10 Mile I, oner. The total length of the Old Ore gon Trail in Oregon is 190 miles. During the past couple of years work of replacing the old wagon roads of the locality with a mod ern highway, answering the speci- central system westward through '"cations of the highway department Denver and Salt Lake. Fear of bad !n STade, width, curves and sur roads from Salt Lake northwesterly face. has been eiiS on, and at the to Oregon, however, caused the vast Present time the entire route, ex majority of these motorists to cepting several short gaps involv strike southwestward for San Fran- inS future elimination of railroad Cisco. With the improvement of grade crossings, is either completed the Utah and Idaho roads and the or under contract for improvement. completion of the Old Oregon Trail The status of tne road s described tween Pendleton and the far east- in Oregon, the route to the Pacific as -follows: 8.7 miles of pavement, ern Oregon cities. . coast in Oregon will be shorter and 1413 miles of new SraJe with gravel By another winter, however, the easier than the route to San Fran- surface, 35 miles of new grade un- road will be entirely completed and Cisco, and Oregon may look for a der contract for surfacing, five then the demands of traffic will veritable flood of motorists- from miles of unimproved road which is have to be met by keeping the road this direction. under contract for both grading and open the year around, it is be- ,., ,,, .... surfacing. lieved. This will be a difficult un- 1 nrec Transcontinentnl Routes. ... , , . , , , . - , , , . All contracts under which the dertaking as the snowfall in the across the continent which motor- ceptinj .Jne. call for completion of lsts. coming westward in increasing work this fal, so tnat by this win. numoers as tne roaas improve ana ter tne entire road with the excep xne motoring lever Decomes more virulent, will follow. They are the northern route, similar in a general way to the route followed by the northern railroads, the central route which follows approximately the tion of this one gap, will be com pleted with new grade and gravel or macadam surface. This one ex ception covers the surfacing of 13.5 miles, and the grading of a small portion of this stretch, between n the Blue moun- "l lJ,"u" au Deadman s Pass southern route across the desert tajns east of Pendlcton, and Kamela. streicnes ui iew Aviexico ana An Blue mountains is heavy, but it is believed that it can be accom plished, just as the highway de partment has undertaken and ac complished the work of keeping the mountainous sections of the Pacific highway in southern Oregon open. The highest point, of elevation on the Old Oregon Trail is in this Blue mountain section, where it reaches 4355 feet above sea level. In order to keep the route from being zona. Across the northern route a num ber of automobile highways have been charted, the best known of This section will not be entirely i,iiri with snow it will he nenes- completed until October, 1933. Kary to operate snow plows more or Vli;t?r Travel to Be Cared For. less continuously during the win- With the exception of the stretch ter months. which is the Yellowstone Trail. This just noted the trail will be open The Old Oregon Trail, completed, route brings the motorist into Spo- and in good traveling condition will have cost approximately 53, kane, and thence he may come to throughout the coming winter, ac- 200,000, of which amount the state Portland via Walla Walla, Pendle- cording to the state highway com- will have contributed $1,700,000, the ton and the Colmnbia river highway, mission. It isiexpected, says a re- federal government $380,000, and Across the central route there are port from the -commission at Salem, the counties through which the also a number of roads charted, the that enough progress can be made highway passes the remainder, or best known of which is the Lincoln in the surfacing of the Deadman's $1,120,000. The expenditures to date highway. This route goes through Pass-Kamela section so that it may have aggregated $2,700,000, and it Denver and Salt Lake, following- be at least passable during this Is estimated that it will take $500, rather closely the pathway of the winter. But it cannot be positively 000 more to mPlete the roa1 early pioneers who struggled over stated that this will be the case. Present Status Described, the plains and mountains with. If the Blue mountain section can A summary of the present status prairie schooners and ox teams to be kept open it will be a wonderful of the improvement, as furnished California and Oregon. At- Salt step forward in road development by the state highway department, is - Lake is the parting of the ways, for eastern Oregon, as heretofore a 0 ows' the motorist for Oregon turning that portion of the road has been Pendleton to Deadman's Pass 20 miles, northward towards the fertile Utah closed eaqh year for about half the ragraVend suraced wlth broken 810110 and Idaho sections, and the motor- year, and has served as a barrier Deadman's Pass- to Kamela 13.5 miles. ist for California turning south- against motor communication be- (Concluded on Page 2.). mmmmm mm jtv;., 1 5 n 1 1 . r-,s ;-'x' i fc-st,1 ' .-.if M ' toS -fcOv lilil mm 1. - iir.iii, bridge ouer Grande Rorufc River nrjr la Grande liliil 1:1 108.2