The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-12-08
an ZAF OZD OIeEGON H9AIL.

"a o BUILD an automobile roat
from the Missouri river to tn,
mouth of the Columbia, follow
ing the route of the old Ore
gon Trail, is the ambitious pro
that has received the indorse
t of automobile clubs, good roads
Citations and men prominent il
+ b and national affairs. AS yet the
ect is little more than a dream
1t is of the kind of dreams tha
e true.
though the old Oregon Trail start
1t independence, Mo-, and proper
. brminated at The Dalles, Ore, it is
ned to start its successor Ito be
= Kn as the Pioneer Way at st
S, and to continue it on to the
h of the Columbia, total dis
e of approximately $500 miles
IN completed, it will be unsur
ed among the worlds highways
S historic associations, and in the
ety, beauty and sublimity of the
raj scenery along the way. II
traverse or enter seven states
b the roof of the continent at an
htion of 7,450 feet, and finally de-
d to sea level. 1t will pass through
wheat and corn fields of Kansas
Nebraska, cross the high plains
Wyoming, traverse the newly irri.
ID lands of Idaho, and give a
pse of the famous finland EN-
Of eastern Oregon.
fom st. Louis, the Pioneer Way
follow the Missouri to Independ-
Thence it wiA go up the Little
river, reaching the Platte at
pd Island. For $50 miles it will
W the Platte and Sweetwater, to
4h Pass-that hardly perceptible
sing of the Rocky mountains, T.
feet above the sea. For 100 miles
route lies over an almost level
Fau, 1000 feet and more in height.
his long stretch, with snowy
3ntains in sight for much Of the
on both the north and the south,
From centers of population, in a
bn absolutely uninhabited and un-
bitable, the old oregon Trail is
the same today as it was SO years
with the exception that the thou
S who then traversed 1t have dis
|ared, and that it has relapsed
its primeval solitude. Mile after
of the roadbed is as distinctly
med as ever, worn by the wheels
ms of thousands of prairie schoon-
hnd the hoofs of millions of draft
balls and pack animals to a depth
fom two to fifteen feet, and to a
h of anywhere from twelve to one
lred feet.
ben Green river is crossed, with
ocks and palisades. Farther on is
ford of Bear river, after which
stream is followed for forty miles
oda Springs, LILO miles from In
ndence. Here the later Califor-
Trail turned off to the southwest.
road to Oregon continued on to
Raft river, where the old Califor-
Trail-the one followed by the
F-niners-diverged to the south.
b down the Snake river ran the
to Oregon. This will be the
d picturesque and beautiful long
tch of the Pioneer Way-just as
as the most difficult part of the
1epn Trail. Past American falls,
1 falls, Shoshone falls (called the
CARA of the wesD, Upper and Low
almon falls, down Boise river, up
seemingly impossible face Of the
mountains, through the pleasant
es of great pine forests, across a
cursed desert, and and at last to
broad Columbia. Where the trail
strikes it, the Columbia is a mile
\ but it soon reaches the remark
chasm known as the Dalles,
RE it is pent between rock walls
4 100 to 200 feet wide, and where
|Dlummet has ever sounded its
b. Here is literally a river
+ ed on edge"
Pleads for the Old Trail.
resent day interest in the Oregon
| / is attributed solely to the ef-
of Ezra Meeker OF Puyallup,
/ h., who for five years has devoted
|Belf to a unique campaign to Sc
the speedy marking and ultimate
|eVarding of the old highway. He
/ to Oregon in 1852, when he be-
|e a prominent figure among the
|eers, and made and lost several
|lnes. On January 2S, 1906. he
ted on what he calls his Oregon
u Monument Expedition. AS an
let lesson to the vast majority,
know prairie schooners and bull
|hs" only through the medium OF
KS and pictures, he drives a team
ed oxen. hitched to an old-fash-