Funds for The Dalles – Sandy Military Road gained appropriation from the Oregon legislature in 1872 – $50,000.  The road finally finished in 1876 after another $50,000 infusion.  The road suffers from memory – too windy and parts too steep (20 % grades!).  Much of the road was said to have been destroyed by the 1880 building of the railway through the Gorge.  Some areas remained to be incorporated into the subsequent Columbia River highway.  Other areas were abandoned, though only one section of the old wagon road – Shellrock Mountain – remains known from its day.

THE MOUNTAIN

Shellrock Mountain is the twin for Wind Mountain on the Washington side of the Columbia River.  Indian legend had it two maidens were frozen into stone when they taught white men to fish for salmon.  The mountain is similar geologically to its brother to the north.  The thought both belonged to the same geological formation before the Missoula Floods ripped them apart.

This section resembles other cliff areas of the Gorge not very conducive to road building in the pre-dredging era.  Locals thought to build here would simply invite massive erosion from the loose shale above.

THE DALLES – SANDY MILITARY WAGON ROAD

There does not seem to be much information easily available as to why the route was placed on Shellrock Mountain where it sat.  The route cruised through a roughly straight line about three hundred feet above the current freeway and railroad. 

Reports note the route of the wagon road – noted as a military road, not unlike the interstate system, itself – was destroyed by the development of the 1880 railroad through the Gorge.  One problem with this is early 20th century newspaper reports noting the primary route between Viento and Wyeth being that of the “old military road”.

LUMBER BARON AND THE “HONOR MEN”

In 1912, Simon Benson, a successful Portland lumberman, put up $10,000 to build a new road around Shellrock Mountain.  The venture, supported by Governor Oswald West, was to use convicts from the Oregon Penitentiary as road builders similar to a project on the other side of the river that had failed two years prior.

Many considered Shellrock as the crux of any potential road through the Gorge.  To dig around on the loose shale supposedly invited more of the mountain to fall upon any attempted pathway.

About 20 convicts became involved in the project.  They centered themselves on the east side of the mountain near the confluence of Summit Creek and the Columbia River.  There, they had a water source and a dock built gave access to boat supplies sent upriver from Portland.  Most of the work was done by hand.  Three of the “honor men” walked off the job from their unguarded camp during the project. 

For the better part of 1912 the men worked.  They finished a route most of the way around the mountain paralleling the railroad near the river.  That was as opposed to using the old wagon grade which existed a couple hundred feet higher up the mountain.  But the road never was finished because of both problems with the neighboring railroad and money running out along the way.

EPITAPH FOR A ROAD

The road worked on by the “honor men” did not last long.  Many of the retaining walls collapsed in short time.  When it came time for highway engineer John Elliott working to complete the project of the Columbia River Highway for Hood River County in 1915, his men needed to redo most of the work already done.

The only thing left from the 1912 affair is a plaque on a cliffside next to the restored HRCH near the crossing of Summit Creek.  The plaque honors Simon Benson and the “honor men” who showed a road around Shellrock Mountain was possible.

VISITING THE WAGON ROAD

But that possibility had been proven by the builders of the earlier wagon road.  Some of the road still exists paralleling the freeway a few hundred feet above.  Access to the old wagon road is not advertised.  I can speak of only the eastern end of the wagon road remains on Shellrock.  There are few places to safely park along the freeway on this stretch.  I walked from the parking lot at Starvation Creek – weekends, the lot can fill early.

The HCRH became restored on this section in 2019.  You walk west along the old highway – several waterfalls visible early in the season on the way, a sort of mini-Waterfall Alley – for a couple miles.  Along the way, you pass “eagle’s nest” viewpoints for both Dog Mountain and Wind Mountain, both lying across the river.

Just past the plaque commemorating the 1912 effort – Camp Benson where the convicts worked out of was located close to here – you will come onto a long rock gabion as the path leads off the freeway into the trees.  Looking above to the right, you will notice a big rockslide.  Remains from the wagon road now become visible from here.  At the end of the rockslide, there is a faint path leading back up the slope to a series of easy switchbacks going up through the slide to the old road above.

UP TO THE ROAD

Once on the road, you can move right or left and see how some of the retaining walls for the road have held up over a century later.  These were all laid in by hand.  There was no steam equipment to make the job easier.  In places, trees and bushes make your progress a bit tedious.  With corgi at my side, I walked a distance west until the road washed out.  A path continues and the road does, as well, some distance beyond.  I, however, turned back here and explored the other end of the road.

Some of the best-preserved masonry lie at the east end of the rockslide before the road traverses into the forest.  It slips around a ridge with vegetation now becoming more of an issue.  Finally, at a rock cut, the road disappears into canyon walls with Camp Benson Falls just beyond.

BEYOND

Maps show a “Old Wagon Road Historic Area” on the east side of Summit Creek – the whole area included in the Lindsey Creek State Park.  I have not been able to uncover anything about this area.  But it would make sense that the wagon road coming east from Shellrock Mountain probably crossed Summit Creek above the falls and then descended towards Lindsey Creek to the east following a path like that taken by a BPA powerline road.

Walking the old wagon road is amazing in the history, but also in the forgotten nature of the place.  That forgetfulness especially notable in an area devoted to the remembrance of another later road.

Scott Cook’s Curious Gorge, an exploration guide extraordinaire for the Columbia Gorge area, mentions both the old wagon trail and an interesting loop above making use of a trail between the powerline towers. The latter trail involves a couple of ladders which ruled this option out with a dog. Ollie is cute but not cute enough to lug up a ladder 😊.

Note the parking area for exploring Shellrock Mountain might be off a bit as described in the book with the new completion of the HCRH. I just extended my walk west from Starvation Creek past the many waterfalls. One could easily walk in from the west from the large trailhead for the HCRH at Wyeth on the west side of Shellrock Mountain as well.