The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1919-05-15
abandoned wagon road for a tune.

abandoned wagon road for a time
A mile east of Hood River the new
right Of way passes out of sight Of the
Columbia into series Of narrow IA
vines and happy canyons. For three
quarters of a mile the mOtorist may
revel in moods of quietness. In spring
time the wild currsnt. dogw0od and
Oregon grape blossoms will greet the
eye And then the right of way
breaks out on promontory. where
long stretches of the Columbia and the
Washington bank may be- scanned.
The town of White Salmon, in the far
distance. its business houses and dwell
ings rising like toy huts. may be seen,
and on the lowlands surrounded by its
neat-rowed garden tracts. nestles Bin
gen.
Then for mile the new link Of the
Highway. twisting IN and around
points. will pass through fr forest
and the scenery is very similar to that
in many places along much of the way
TO the west in Hood River and Multno
nah counties.
In this wooded section the engineers
and construction gangs have met with
pleasant surprises. Ii was expected
that much solid rock would be encoun-
tered, but instead the excavation has
been comparatively easy for steam
shovels. In one long stretch only loose
earth with an occasional bone. as
the road laborer terms lutting boul-
der. has been found. The expected
solid rock of other stretches turned
out to he an easily worked mass of de-
tached small stones.
Numerous rocky promontores will
have to be blasted away to make way
for the road, but already hard rock
men have begun their elimination.
Tunnels. called coyote holes, are bored
for about 20 feet into these points.
The the rock men penetrate to each
side, forming big I shaped holes.
These are filled with dynamite or pow.
der. A downward plurge of the elec.
trlc detonator handles and the rock
points are gone,
Nature has provided authorities
with material for the surfacing Of The
road. Three and quarter miles from
Hood River and mile west Of the
summit, which rises 100 feet higher
are found huge deposits of loose rocks
excellent road surfacing material
Crews of men, numbering 100, are
now engaged on the Hood River Mosiei
stretch Of the Highway The contract
calls for completion by November l.
Four steam shovels, three in HooC
River county and one near Mosier, ait
| ma l. "A tN1 IN k.
moval Of material. An air compressor
has been set up beside the railroad
track and power drills, driven by all
piped to the eyrie heights, have begur
the bore of one of the tunnels. Steam
driven drills are engaged on "A rock cut
Just west of Mosier
At present the right of way is i'm
| passable even to goat, and engineer
engaged in their work of planning foi
the progress of contractors find it nee
essarv to use rope ladders in sealing
the cliffs. The engineering crews re
fer to these ropes as elevators. 1t is I
strenuous task to try to follow one Of
these engineering crews over theiI
cliffside route for the day. One af
| fected by dizzy heights had best re
main on lower levels.
The new strecth Of highway undeI
| construction is peculiarly task fol
the engineer. But nothing has beer
overlooked in the plans Of the Stat,
Highway Department and the corps ot
competent men constantly on tn,
ground. The little culyert, to carry
tiny stream of water, is given as care
| ful thought AS the giant bore of tn,
big tunnel.
On the sharp turns of the four loops
just east of Hood River the road i;
given an extra width to permit tn,
convenient passage of motors at tn,
corners. The outside tracks of tn,
curves will be raised like those of ;
race track.
Starting from Hood River, one i,
reminded by the green frs of sur
rounding rangesides that he is still il
the Cascades Passing through thu
open Widowed tunnel to the east tn,
motorist will come suddenly face t
| face with new phase of Northwest
ern topography. His thoughts will
turn from apple orchards, although h,
is approaching the banner tracts o
| Mosier, to the wheat and grain rancho
of eastern Oregon. because of tn
barren, serrated sides of the nortl
bank of the Columbia. Because the,
are on the dividing line of two ex
tremely different sections Of the state
the tunnels between here and Mosie
may be named the Gateway Tun
nels.
Strangely. but two bridges will b
crossed by the motorist between her
and Mosier, one across Hood river here
and the other. concrete structur
lust completed. over Rock creek JUS
west of the Wasco county apple city
After leaving an Indian colony abou
a half mile east of Hood River but
single habitation of man was encoun
tered by engineering crews when the
made their surveys for five mil
stretch. Strangely, this home, owne
by a prosperous Indian rancher. er
croached on the right of way and ha
to be removed.
Oregon motorists in estate JOY ar
enjoying to the fullest the links, seria
chapters in the Oregon Good Road
history, as they have beeb termed, O
the Columbia Highway already built
1t will take many day to bring ther
to state of safety on scenes alread
opened. If anyone does incline to gro,
stale with the roads already possesse
let him whet his appetite in anticlpa
tion of the 1919 chapter, for the Hoo
River. .Mosier road will have som
startling sensations crammed into IT
six mile distance.
DAUINC CONTQ