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REVIEWS
ROAD OF DIFFICULTIES: BUILDING THE LOWER COLUMBIA RIVER HIGHWAY
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by Michael Taylor
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| Beaver Creek Press, Wallowa, Oregon, 2008. Photographs, maps, bibliography, index. 101 pages. $19.00 paper. |
| In Road of Difficulties, author Michael Taylor focuses attention on a stretch of highway along the Columbia River long neglected by most media. The building of the Lower Columbia River Highway was every bit as difficult and important as the more familiar Columbia River Highway. Oddly enough, the first champions of the road were bicyclists who, seeking paths into the Portland countryside, flocked to the first Good Roads Convention in 1896. When automobiles became practical, their owners then clamored for better roads. By 1912, political agitation for building good roads in Oregon was led by Sam Hill, Simon Benson, Henry L. Pittock, C.S. "Sam" Jackson, and Julius L. Meier, with the endorsement of Governor Oswald West. |
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Before adequate roads were constructed, goods to and from Portland and Astoria were transported by steamers on the Columbia River. Loggers felled trees and used the river to raft them to market until short logging railroads were required to tap the forests farther from the river. Obviously, a road adjacent to the river — an area already partly cleared — was the chosen route. The route proved to be more difficult than first believed. The route through Beaver Valley required several bridges to cross the meandering course of Beaver Creek, and the canyon passing Beaver Falls was steep and rough. Crossing the 1300-foot Clatsop Crest at Bugby Point involved loops of road with grades up to five percent. Perpendicular rock bluffs as high as eight hundred feet had to be stabilized against slides. Nevertheless, early travelers raved about the sweeping view from Bugby Point. Despite problems, the road was open for travel in 1915, just two years after the first surveys. |
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Taylor has thoroughly researched the economic and political forces behind the completion of the highway. To avoid distracting readers with footnotes, he includes short sketches of a page or two to amplify information about key figures involved in the highway construction, or to add details about difficult problems. This technique makes for quick absorption of the total effort from 1914 to 1922 in eighty-eight pages, a bibliography, and an index. A succinct chronology of the major events pertaining to the construction of the Lower Columbia River Highway adds to easy understanding of the project. An interesting chapter of twenty-two pages guides any historian who seeks to trace the remnants of the original route, mile by mile. Brief sketches of settlements along that route, many of them altered or obliterated by later reconstruction of the highway, are useful and entertaining. |
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The book is narrated mostly from the viewpoint of political and construction figures. The author might have included additional tales from those who actually built the road, physically. The book, however, is well-organized and the research appears sound, taken mostly from original government documents and articles in news media. It will likely remain the key source of information about building the Lower Columbia River Highway for future researchers. For Oregon travelers, the book is simply a good read. |
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| JoAnn Roe
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| Bellingham, Washington |
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