Barlow Road Center Line
Across the Cascades
Contributed by Steve F. Russell
This center line of the 1845 Barlow Road is a draft from Steve Russell worthy of sharing with the general public. As of this date, Russell has not offered any commentary on this map. In 1996 and 2002, Jim Tompkins of the Oregon-California Trails Association published a self-guided tour. In it, Tompkins introduces the road:
When Barlow and Foster built the original Mt. Hood Toll Road in 1846 a crew of men used axes, saws and fire to clear the route. They went around large obstacles. They did not cut or fill. They did not use shovels. The original cost was $4000, but workers had to be paid on credit as this proved inadequate. The Barlow Road was not a money making venture.
Since wagons of that era did not have springs or suspension and were probably overloaded, they were subject to sideling – tipping over caused by leaning sideways. With its single long tongue and tall wheels that touch the wagon bed, a wagon could not take sharp turns. Hence road construction crews tried to stay along ridge lines (such as Devil’s Backbone) or along river bottoms (such as the Sandy River), which required numerous river or creek crossings. When it was necessary to go up or down hill, the transit was straight up or down – no switchbacks.
Steep uphills required double or triple teaming, and steep downhills required lowering wagons by rope or cable. Remnants of the road are more visible on hills. Uphills show double or triple tracks as wagon trains slowed down and ascended hills side by side, and deep ruts are cut into hillsides caused by slipping wheels. Downhills are even more dramatic as sliding wagons, leaning on the brakes and dragging trees as anchors disrupted boulders, creating chutes. Lowering wagons left rope burns on tree trunks.
The Territorial Government authorized building stage roads across Oregon. One of the last to be completed was the link over Mt. Hood. The section of road that made the Barlow Road one-way was the last link – Laurel Hill. When the stage road over Laurel Hill was completed in 1866, the last of the infamous chutes was abandoned, and the Barlow became two-way.
Stagecoaches had leather straps for suspension connecting the coach to the frame, allowing for a relatively more comfortable ride and preventing sideling. Stagecoach tongues were jointed in the middle to prevent jackknifing. Since the animals did not have to be all going the same direction, they could take sharper corners. In addition road crews used TNT (an invention introduced from the California gold fields) to blast away rocks and horse-drawn shovels to remove debris (neither of which were used by Barlow). Roads were now cut into the sides of hills and frequent switchbacks made uphill travel less strenuous.
At Barlow Pass one can see ruts caused by wagons going straight downhill and cuts made for stagecoaches as they zig-zagged across the old wagon road.1Jim Tompkins, Discovering Laurel Hill and the Barlow Road (2002).
Notes
- 1Jim Tompkins, Discovering Laurel Hill and the Barlow Road (2002).