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OREGONSCAPE
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| In 1926, developers first began talking about increasing tourism on Mount Hood by building a tram that would transport visitors up the northeast side of the mountain, from Cloud Cap Inn to the summit. A round trip would take only about two hours, they announced, and the project was expected to cost $350,000. "Future visitors to Mount Hood," the September 1, 1926, Oregonian predicted, "would be saved much of the drudgery of mountain climbing if this project is built." |
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That proposal was never realized, but an aerial tramway from Government Camp to Timberline Lodge was proposed in 1947 by the operators of Timberline Lodge and two Portlanders, Dr. J. Otto George and A.L. Greenwalt. The tram was called "Skyway" until copyright problems forced a name change to "Skiway." Funds were raised throughout 1947, and construction began in 1948. Workers surveyed and cleared the route, built thirty-eight steel towers, and strung cable between them. Finally, two modified highway buses were attached to the cables. Drive wheels pulled the buses along stationary cables using the pulley system. Testing the system and subsequent design changes took until 1950, with final costs reaching about a million dollars. |
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The tram opened to the public in 1951, the same year the widened Timberline Highway opened. Because the two tram buses rode the same cable, both had to reach the terminal before one of them could start back. Seventy-two passengers could make the twenty-five-minute, 3.1-mile trip each hour. The tram only ran for five years, then sat idle until 1960, when Zidell Exploration and Machinery Corporation paid $50,000 to salvage from it. |
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| —Mikki Tint, Special Collections Librarian, OHS Research Library |
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