TWELVE MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE
Iundy, August 1. 1151
STAGECOACHES Lined up on Ashland's
main street in front of the old post office are
several stagecoaches of the type that used to
carry the mail over the toll road from Sac
ramento to Portland. The picture is believed
to have been taken in the late 1880 .
CROSSING 99 Two miles from where Highway 99 reaches
the Siskiyou, summit, the vestige of the toll road comes up
from below and crosses the highway, taking off up the eastern
slope of the mountain as shown above.
AT THE TOP Here the toll road creeps out west side and follows . the railroad tracks
of the forest after climbing the eastern slope through the canyon and on to the California '
of the mountain and reaches its own "Siski- border. '
you sumit." From there it winds down the
Culvert Last Sign of IDollcHrhide Toll Hood
Service Stopped
In March, M5,
On Siskiyou Route
' By DON ROBINSON
Mail Tribune Staff Writer
The last toll road in Jackson
county is nothing more today
than a rocky culvert and a faint
clearing through the brush. It
last saw service before women
were allowed to vote.
The Siskiyou Mountain Wagon
road, later the Dollarhide toll
road, wound its way painfully
from the big Barron ranch house
at the foot of the Siskiyou moun
tains four miles south of Ash
land, through rocks and scrub
oak southwest over the top of
the mountain and down to the
canyon floor, turning south again
to the California border, halting
wearily at what was known as
Cole's station.
Familiar Path
It began as a familiar path for
Indian ponies. That was in days
when Indians, missionaries, and
a few scattered trappers were
the only humans in the Rogue
river valley.
It ended in 1915 as a well
traveled 56 -year -old "public
road." The new Pacific highway,
predicted by the Mail Tribune
in 1913 to be ". . . one of the
scenic boulevards of the world,"
had sliced disrespectfully over
the toll road and pushed" it into
history.
Today, even that highway is
outdated. Too many "Sharp
Curves" signs mark its path for
2 0 0 horsepowered travelers.
Highway 99 is the present "bou
levard" over the mountain.
An act of the Territorial legis
lature establishing a Siskiyou
Wagon Road company passed
the House Jan. 14, 1858. It gave
Michael Thomas and associates
a 20 year franchise, to a road
from Southern Oregon into Cal
ifornia. Thomas sold the next
year to Captain Lindsay Apple
gate. AppUgat Brothars
Three Applegate brothers, Lind
say. Charles, and Jesse and
their families, had come to the
Oregon territory in the great
wagon train migration from la
dependence. Mo., in 1843.
The Lindsay Applegates built
a toll house half way up the
mountain ... a log cabin with
stone fireplace and heavy plank
doors.
In 1861, new house went up in
its place. Ivan D., son of Lind
say Applegate, hauled lumber by
freight wagon from a mill in
Butte Falls for this large two
story frame dwelling. Rocks
laden with sea shells were gath
ered from in back of the build
ing to make a pair of giant fire
places inside.
Operated Nine Years
The Applegates operated the
road and collected tolls for nine
tars.
Each day men on foot, in bug
gies and wagons, and droves of
sheep, hogs and cattle moved
along the road! Rates of toll ran
from 25 cents for "one horse
man" to the 40 to 80 dollars per
month paid by the stage com
pany. The construction of the road
made possible the organization
of the Oregon-California stage
company in 1860. The big red
and yellow coaches carried mail
from Sacramento to Portland the
year around.
Jim, Bell and Joe Leach were
the pioneer stage drivers. They
whipped their six-horse teams
expertly around the narrow
curves with never an accident.
On cold winter days, they
would stop at the tell house,
lead the team to . the water
trough outside, and go in to
warm themselves by the perpet
:'! fireplace blaze.
r-rUs on Horses
Always the lead span of horses
on teams drawing wagons and
coaches wore small bells on their
harnesses. These "bell teams"
were halted at each wide spot in
the road. Drivers cocked an ear
for twinklings on down the
mountain. If they caught the
LOOKING EAST This is what remains of the toll road as it
is seen on the east side of the Pacific highway. It crosses the
highway a few feet up the mountain from here, continues
westward, crosses it again, and goes on to where the toll gate
once stood about a mile from the point shown. ' ' ' '
sound of another team's bells,
they waited until it had passed so
as not to meet it on narrower,
impassable stretches.
Trains of as many as 80 pack
mules sometimes plodded
through the toll gates behind a
bell mare.
Ivan Applegates "Cash Jour
nal and Diary of the Weather,"
now being preserved in the Jack
sonville museum, is a handwrit
ten, day by day account of toll
payers and weather on the moun
tain for several months.
On a typical winter day, Dec.
22 1868, it was noted "Today is
cloudy and pirty cold at 3 o'clock
it commenct raining and raind
very hard until 6 o'clock when
it broak off again."
Tells Story
Mrs. Emil C. Peil, first white
baby born in Klamath county,
daughter of Ivan Applegate, and
now a resident of Ashland, tells
this story Of her father and his
brother Oliver which happened
at the toll house:
The two young men found a
cow freshly killed by a bear
Which had been bothering cattle
on the place for some time. They
brought a rope from the house
and perched themselves- in an
oak tree directly above the car
cass. . Several hours went by. Then,
rambling out of the brush, came
a mother bear and her half
grown cub.vWhen the bears were
about to make a second meal of
the cow, Oliver dropped a noose
around the cub's neck and pulled
the rope tight.
Ivan leaped onto its back. The
Applegate dog, trained for hunt
ing but not necessarily wrestling
bears, tore into the fray. The
blur of fur and buckskin rolled
down a small hill and Ivan said
afterward it seemed as though'
the bear "turned right around in
his skin."
Cub Tires Out
The cub was eventually tired
out and quieted down. The boys
tamed it and sold it to Wood
ward's gardens in San Francisco
where it grew to be one of the
laxeest bears ever known there.
Bad weather and like men
caused the workers at the toll
station to be constantly alert
and laboring.
When winter came to the
mountain, maintenance crews
equipped with a team of oxen
and heavy timbers spent the day
light hours clearing snow from
the grade. It reached depths up
to 16 feet at times.
On days when toll mpney
amounted to a sizeable sum, one
of the men would be chosen to
take it into the woods and sleep
with it over night. There were
no banks nearby and holdup
tries were not infrequent.
Collecting Toll
Ivan was once collecting toll
when a "desperado" rode up on
horseback and swung his rifle
around at the young man mean
ing to collect some toll himself.
Ivan's father, Lindsay, saw the
action from inside the house. He
lifted his rifle to the window
and fired into the air, sending
man, horse, and bad intentions
galloping down the mountain.
After nine years of Siskiyou
life, the Applegates sold to the
Thornton brothers, James and
Henry, and James Laughlin. The
Thorntons operated the road
until 1875 when corporation
stock was transferred to Henry
Clay Dollarhide (named after the
famous U. S. Senator from Ken
tucky) and two Patterson tooth
ers. Henry owned 99 shares of
stock; Joseph Patterson had 99,
and George Patterson had only
two. On Oct. 3, 1876, Henry's
father, Jesse . Dollarhide, joined
the corporation and was elected
its president.
Political Status
In the meantime, the Oregon
territory had risen in political
status. Oregon entered the Union
as the 33rd state in February,
1859. Old roads created under
Territorial legislature became
county property, with the pro
vision that toll roads might be
leased for periods of ten years,
after which they could be pur
chased from their eperators by
the counties.
Jesse and Henry Clay Dollar-
hide signed their last Articles of
Agreement with Jackson county
court on Oct. 6, 1880:
"The Siskiyou Wagon Road
company agrees to put down
sixty rods of corduroy also less
en the grade on the first htll this
side of the state line on the Toll-
road one half inch to the foot
less than it is at present.
. "And agrees also to keep in
good repair said road from Hugh
F. Barron's to said state line for
a term of Ten (10) years at the
same rates of toll as allowed
under the present act."
Operation Continual
The 10 years passed. The coun
ty, unwilling to spend money it
did not have, moved not a finger
to acquire the road. The Dollar
hides consequently kept it open
and the company operating.
L. Dudley Dollarhide, later
known as "Uncle Dud," brother
of Henry Clay, then entered the
road business and bought out
his father and brother. He moved
with his wife and three children
to the old toll house in 1897.
- Dudley and his family cooked
for the gangs putting through
the first telephone, postal tele
graph, and Western Union lines
over the Siskiyous.
As the years wore on and a
new century began, the traveling
public grew more and more un
friendly toward paying toll each
time it wanted to cross the moun
tain. "Uncle Dud" didn't return
its unfriendliness, but neither
did he return its money.
'Better Roads'
In 1913, a "better roads"
movement: in- Jackson county
culminated in the decision to
build a Pacific highway over the
mountain, taking almost exactly
the same route followed by the
toll road. Negotiations with con
tractors and the state took time.
But on Nov. 28, 1913, in the
presence of Governor Oswald
West, the state highway commis-
' 1
THE GATE IN 1887 Henry Clay Dollarhide
(center) stands With his family beneath the
original toll gate at the toll house in the Sis
kiyou mountains: The picture was taken in
1887. The sign across the top designates the
route as the "Tole Road." Henry ran the road
with his father, Jesse, until his brother,
Dudley, bought them out and continued oper
ating the toll station until 1915.. This picture
and the one of the old stagecoaches above
are from negatives owned by Memory Lane
Studios Ashland.
sion, and "hundreds of prominent
citizens," as the Mail Tribune
phrased it, the first shovelful of
earth was turned.
Dudley held tight to his road.
He sold the rights from Barron's
place to the Steinman railroad
tunnel, but kept the section
from Steinman to the border.
Highway crews kept digging
and finally dug straight across a
part of the grade still legally
in Dollarhide hands.
Lawyer Protests
Dudley's lawyer, C. B. Wat
son of Ashland, protested in a
series of four Mail Tribune ar
ticles of October, 1914: ". . . Dol
larhide gave the county the right
to cross his toll road in con
structing the Pacific highway
with the express understanding
that they were not to block or
obstruct it. Yet they have con
structed a fill directly across his
road from side to side that is 16
feet .high on the down hill side
and eight feet high on the other
side. -
"The contractors have also,
without leave, license, or con
sent, appropriated 600 feet of the
toll road and forced travel out
of - the road and among the
rocks."
In September,' 1914, the Mail
Tribune's front page told of a
restraining injunction ordered
against Dudley when he was ". . .
alleged to have made threats
backed by a - shotgun against
workmen employed on the road."
Grip Loosened
Dollarhide's grip loosened rap
idly. On March 8, 1915, he sold
all of the road to the county for
J1.000.
"Uncle Dud" kept his toll
house and continued to live on
the mountain, running a few
cattle and farming. When the
new highway was completed, he
noticed that the horseless car
riages rolling over it were re
plete with ailments notably
flat tires and boiling radiators.
With his eye for opportunity
as sharp as ever, Dudley built a
service station several hundred
yards down the highway from
his house and did a healthy busi
ness thse until Highway 99 was
put through. He died in October,
1939. .
Buildings Destroyed
The toll house, two barns, and
a blacksmith shop on the toll
property were destroyed in a
forest fire on a Sunday in De
cember of 1929.
The toll road today is in a
state of sad disrepair, difficult
to find and more difficult to fol
low.
Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Presley,
the former Dorothy Dollar-
hide, granddaughter of Dudley,
bought several acres of the old
corporation land including what
used to be the toll house in 1946.
They buili a temporary house
near the edge of the property's
stand of virgin timber and moved
in last July with their three
giant St. Bernard dogs' Drifted
Snow, Swiss Robe, and Frosty
Dawn.
- Mrs. Presley and her husband
intend to keep the quarter-mile
of toll road that runs through
their land cleared as a land
mark. Erect Gatepost
They have erected a gatepost
over the entrance to it painted
"Old Wagon Road." Mrs. Pres
ley derived this from the two
names given the old route,
"Mountain Trail", before 1856,
and Siskiyou Mountain. Wagon
Road" after the corporation was
formed.
Below the Presley place the
road can be traced as a yellow
culvert littered with rocks.
Above, it is a faint but distin
guishable path up to. Highway
99, crossing the highway at mile
post 334 two miles from the sum
mit, crossing the Southern Pa
cific tracks near the Siskiyou
station, heading up the eastern
slope of the mountain, down the
other side and along the Tails
to the border.
The Daughters of the Ameri
can Revolution. Ashland, at the
instigation of Mrs. Peil, plan to
put up a marker on the Presley
place near the old toll road,
commemorating the Dollarhides,
Thorntons, and Applegates.
Mrs. Peil and Mrs. Presley
are two of at least 34 children
raised by the three successive
families at the toll house: 12 by
Applegates, 6 by Thorntons, and
16 by Dollarhides. i
Amateur Historian
An amateur historian with
several scrap books filled with
clippings of her famed pioneer
family, Mrs. Peil has the toll
road as one of her historical in
terests. -
She has notes and clippings
about it including a short essay
written by her aunt, the late
Mrs. Alice Applegate Sergeant.
Mrs. Presley is also fond of
her grandfather's old road, and
is the possessor of the official
records of stockholders meetings
held by the Thorntons and Dol
larhides. In finishing her essay, Mrs.
Sargent wrote of the toll road:
"Time has brought great
I '
AREA MAP Traced from superimposed 1950 and 1910 map
of Jackson county, the above shows the old toll road, its
successor the Pacific highway, and the present main route
over the Siskiyous, Highway 99. The toll road and the Pacifie
highway follow each other so closely they merge at on
point on the map.
changes, with the grade in ruins,
the railroad circling the moun
tain slopes, and the great Pacific
highway, like a silver ribbon,
winding Its way where sure
footed Indian ponies used to go."
The pride of the Pacific high
way has now been transferred to
Highway 99. But history at
least will not forget the father
of them both, the Siskiyou Moun
tain Wagon road, later the
famous and sometimes contro
versial Dollarhide toll road.
BLOWN TO BITS ,
Morlaix, France U.R) Two
young French boys were blown
to bits Friday by a World War
II shell they found in a field.
Officials said the shell exploded
as the boys tried to take it
apart . - :
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CAWDLE ROOM
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Complete Your Mealf
COCKTAILS: SHRIHIP-CRAB-FRUIT 35
SALMB: TOSSED GARDEN GREEK'S
HEARTS OF LETTUCE
COTTAGE CflEESEPEAR
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SIDE ORDERS'-FRIED ONION RJNOS
0ARLIC BREAD
DESSERT: ICE CREAM or SHERBET, 15f
S?mXSANOWICHES
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cAMjo,i I BEEFBURGER. 19
HAM STEAK H?5! TENDERL0INSTEAKkl
TURKEY I 75
Small Portions for Children
OPEN 6 to 1 a.m. Daily 4 to 1 1 p.m. Sundays
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