7 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org Featured Article I will share a brief history of transportation routes beginning with the Santiam wagon road that led from the Lebanon/ Sweet Home area, up the South Santiam River, over Santiam Pass, and on to Camp Polk near Sisters. This road operated from 1865 to 1939. Huntington Road, which brought supplies from The Dalles to Fort Klamath, was opened in 1867. A portion of the road between La Pine and Sunriver is now a county road and still retains the name. The Columbia Southern Railroad operated from Biggs to Shaniko in the early 1900s, so the wagon, and passenger traffic into Central Oregon, came from that railhead. In the late 1800s, an attempt was made to extend a railroad over Santiam Pass from Corvallis to Bend and on to Boise, but it was never completed. In late 1911, the railroad was completed up the Deschutes Canyon to Bend. This opened up the pine forests for exploitation and diminished the need for the wagon roads. When the automobile arrived, the wagon roads were either abandoned completely or turned into public roads. The remainder of this article will elaborate on another, lesser known wagon road that operated over the McKenzie Pass beginning in 1862. Last summer my wife and I decided a short hike into Hand Lake was in order. The small lake is about a half mile north of the McKenzie Highway and 4.5 miles west of the summit. We got our directions into and about the lake environs from William Sullivan’s book “100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades.” In his description of this hike, he points out that there is a short abandoned section of the old McKenzie Pass Toll Road near the lake. I had never heard of a wagon road crossing the McKenzie Pass. With little effort, I was able to find the section of road he described. This prompted me to do some further research. Queries to the Willamette NF and McKenzie River RD archeologists have been fruitless, so the information I gathered came off the internet. The toll road was first started by Felix Scott Jr. in 1862 with a crew of 50 men. His name is connected with several landmarks in the area: Scott Lake, Scott Mountain, Scott Trail, and Scott Pass. His route pretty much followed an old Indian trail. A large obstacle to Scott’s route was the huge Belknap lava field at the crest. Scott didn’t want to traverse this field, so he took his road about three miles south of the present highway and close to the north flank of the North Sister. This meant his road was almost 1,000 feet higher than if he crossed through the lava field. One of his crew members, John Templeton Craig, tried to talk him into taking the lava field route, but Scott refused. It quickly became apparent his road was not efficient because of the short season due to the time it took the snow to melt in the spring. The road was a bust and it was abandoned. In 1871, John Craig formed a new company and re-routed the road. This included taking it through the lava field as he had first proposed. His company opened the toll road for business in 1872. The rates were 10 cents for a head of cattle, a nickel for a head of sheep, $2.00 for a wagon, and $1.00 for a horse and rider. The road operated as a toll road until 1898, at which time it became public. During this time, around $18,000 was collected in tolls. Based on the average value of the dollar at that time, the revenue would round out to about $539,000 in today’s dollars. The two-mile portion of the road that crosses the lava field is very much as it was when it was operating as a wagon road, and later when it began carrying some automobile traffic. My wife, a friend, and I hiked part of the east end of the road late last summer. At some time a telephone or telegraph line was placed along the road. They used split cedar for poles, and most are still there but either standing or fallen down. No wire though. For some reason the forest service seems to keep this interesting 150-year-old artifact a secret. There are no signs or information directing people to the start of the road. There is limited parking where the Pacific Crest Trail crosses the highway just west of the summit. From there one goes northwest, following the toe of the lava flow. After about 300 yards the road begins by ramping up onto the top of the lava. From here it extends southwesterly for about two miles, at which time it merges back into the highway. continues Portion of road with Black Crater in the distance.
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