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LIFE IN THE CAMPS: 

THE NORTH CROSS-STATE HIGHWAY, 1966 – PART II

A REMEMBRANCE BY PAUL ANDERSON, OCTOBER 2012

When the Bureau of Public Roads started surveying in remote areas for what is now the North Cascades 

Scenic Byway, crews worked out of tent camps that were erected along trails frequented by hikers. Two or 

three groups or individuals might pass through each week. It was not surprising that some even stayed the 

night; after all, the survey camp occupied the only flat ground for miles.

Just because the survey camp was located in 

remote territory didn't mean it didn't get any visitors. 

One night the family who owned a mine a few miles 

upstream stayed overnight at the camp. The man had 

studied the history of the area, and said that the Army 

Corps of Engineers had built a wagon road several 

miles to the east in the 1880s, roughly parallel to the 

North Cross State Highway. 

That road led to the town of Chancellor which 

had a population of about 500 at its peak. The town 

had all the things a mining town would have, including 

a water-powered generator for electricity, a stamp mill, 

and a hotel. But the road was closed by snow six or 

seven months of the year, making transportation a 

problem. No one ever found any ore in profitable 

quantities, so the town soon died out. By the time of 

the 1898 Klondike gold rush, most of the mining activity in the north Cascades was already over.

It was late August or early September when we 

finished the west end and were ready to move camp to 

the east side. While it was still summer in the valleys, 

it was early fall in the high country, and our next 

campsite was at about 4,200' elevation. Snow can hit 

the passes by mid-October, and with about six more 

weeks of work to do, we knew we might be cutting it 

close.

The packer told us that moving our camp and 

supplying us from the east side gave him a chance to 

do something he had wanted to do for years: make the 

full circle of the route by road and trail, by way of the 

North Cross-State Highway and Stevens Pass. By his 

best estimates, it was about twelve miles by trail 
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between our campsites, but by trail and road it was 

almost four hundred to complete the loop. Traveling 

today's routes, from Burlington to Winthrop, the Route 

20 portion, is 132 miles. From Winthrop to Burlington 

via Wenatchee and Stevens pass is 262 miles, or a total 

of 394 miles.

Our move happened to correspond with our 

four-day weekend. We had given the packer a date to 

start moving our gear, so we had to have everything 

ready for him to load: about a half day’s work to tear 

down and get everything organized. We had gotten 

done a little early the day before, so I decided to take a 

hike on the trail to the north. Big mistake. 

The trail went up the point of a ridge and there 

were 64 (yes, sixty-four) switchbacks before the trail 

started leveling out some. But it was worth it; the 

scenery was spectacular. What looked like mountains 

from the creek – the future road level – were just foothills hiding the real mountains beyond. I thought it 

was a shame that the thousands of people who would 

eventually drive the road wouldn’t be able to see the 

real scenery.

We all got together on a Monday evening at 

Twisp. Of the three college-student temporaries on the 

project, Steve and Jim didn’t come back, having decided to get ready for school, Bruce wanted to get in a 

few more days and ride out on Sunday with the packer. 

Chuck Borstad joined us then.

On Tuesday we took the cars to a Forest Service guard station for storage. Then we loaded ourselves and our packs into the Crummy, which had been 

brought over from Newhalem, and drove several miles 

to the construction project. We left the Crummy with 

the night watchman for safekeeping, then shouldered 

our packs and hiked through the construction area: 

almost three miles – and uphill, of course.

The state crew had ferried a 4x4 Carry-All 

through the construction for us to use. There had been 

some advance clearing done, so we had a cat road that 

saved us several miles (and hours) of hiking. From the 

end of the cat road to our camp site was about three 

miles by trail.

Our campsite was at a place called Swamp 

Creek. It was about as dismal as it sounds, but it provided the needed water supply for the camp. There 

was a heavy growth of salal and ferns near the creek. 

Otherwise the underbrush was mostly huckleberries.

That was an added treat – frozen huckleberries taste a 

lot like a fruit Popsicle.

The terrain on the east end was more favorable 

for us – no more cliffs or steep hillsides, fewer and 

smaller trees, less underbrush – so we were able to 

As early as 1814, fur traders began developing a route over the North Cascades from 

the interior plateau. Gold miners were passing through the area by 1879, but it was 

not until the mid-1890’s that they developed a satisfactory trail. The Devil’s Corner 

(or Devil’s Elbow) was a particularly difficult section where miners built short 

suspension bridges over the gorges of the Skagit River and carved half tunnels into 

the steep cliffs. Photo courtesy National Park Service, 

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/noca/hbd/forms5.htm.
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cover more ground in a day, and we made good progress on the work.

The short, cool evenings meant a lot of time 

sitting by the fire. Our wood gathering trips turned 

into a nightly event, and we sometimes made two or 

three trips. With the heavy snow pack at that elevation, there were plenty of downed trees, but they stay 

buried in snow five or six months, so never get much 

chance to dry out.

Luckily for us, the weather stayed nice late 

that year. We woke up to a light drizzle one morning, 

and it continued all day and into the next night. It 

eventually weighed down our dining fly and brought it 

crashing down about 2:30 in the morning. That caused 

a little excitement – especially for Harvey, our camp 

cook, who was sure it was a bear. No real harm was 

done. We went back to bed and fixed it in the 

morning.

It was a happy day when we finally reached the “Golden Spike” where our survey connected with the state’s 

survey at the top of Rainy Pass. The previous crew 

had planted a pole adorned with autographed survey 

stakes and yellow flagging. We had to add ours to it, 

of course. There was still a lot to do, but this gave us a 

kind of second wind. The end was in sight!

I think we all felt just a touch of regret when 

we started tearing down the camp for the last time. It 

had been a memorable summer: camping out in the 

woods for three months, being completely out of touch 

with the outside world for two weeks at a time, being a 

part of something that would probably never happen 

again. We took some pride in having a part in accomplishing a difficult job that would benefit a lot of people in the future.

Staking crews in the future would be able to 

access the work on a daily basis, but it would still be a 

difficult job.

John Bucholtz volunteered to drive the 4x4 

back to Vancouver; I would ride with him part way. 

We had to wait at the top of Washington Pass, about 

5,500' elevation, to drive through the construction area 

while the rest of the crew went ahead on foot. It was 

late afternoon on a sunny day, and a skim of ice was 

forming on a shaded pond. It was definitely time to 

leave.

With the heavy construction and lack of access, 

it would be several more years before the road would 

be completed, and several more before I had occasion 

to drive it. Even today, some forty years after completion, the North Cross-State Highway is considered an 

outstanding piece of engineering and construction.

A construction camp on the shore of Lake Chelan, 1927-28. Final Construction 

Report, Forest Highway Project Nos. 23A & 23A1, Chelan National Forest, 

Chelan County, Washington. WFLHD Archives.

Stories in this series are edited by Marili Reilly. Retirees who would like to share their own memories of early 

Federal Lands Highway projects may send them to marili.reilly@dot.gov.