Until 1940, there really was no fast and easy way to reach the Pacific Coast from the main population center of Oregon – Portland.  At first, there were river steamers coming downstream from Portland to Astoria.  Then, the train to Astoria with a branch line going further south to Gearhart and Seaside.   The first road connection finally came in 1915 with the building of the Lower Columbia Highway, today’s US Highway 30. 

One other circuitous connection came via the western Tualatin Valley, Vernonia, the middle Nehalem Valley and then over the Coast Range from Jewell to Astoria via the Klaskanine and Youngs River valleys.  None of these routes were particularly fast.  In response to a quicker connection between the magic of the northern Oregon Coast and the workaday reality of Portland, enter what would become the Sunset Highway.

SUMMER ESCAPE

Portlanders had been escaping the summer heat heading to the Coast since the latter 1800’s after the Astoria & Columbia Railroad finally linked Astoria to the rest of the world through Portland.  After many false starts – lack of capital for construction being the main impediment – Andrew Hammond completed the line in May 1898.  Earlier attempts at rail line construction established a line – Astoria & South Coast Railway – between Astoria and Seaside with the hope of extending it to Portland via the Nehalem Valley. 

Choosing the Lower Columbia route instead, Hammond linked his rails to the Northern Pacific line already existing to Goble near St Helens – where a rail ferry crossed to Kalama and the line to the Puget Sound.  His rail line operated as part of James Hill’s Spokane Portland & Seattle Railway after 1908.  The new line promoted “The Oregon Coast From Portland to Summer Paradise in Four Hours” for a $4 round trip ticket. A one-way trip from Portland to Seaside normally took five hours.

DADDY TRAIN

Opening the Coast to tourism swelled the size of people on the coast in the summer.  Seaside’s year-round population went from 500 to five and ten thousand in the summer.  Especially attracted were upper middle-class families.  The family, minus the fathers, would encamp for the Coast for the summer.  The fathers would come over on the weekends – Friday 6 pm train from Portland and returning Sunday afternoon – on trains known as the “Daddy Trains”.  One prominent example of summer vacations on the northern Oregon Coast demonstrated by little James Beard who came for the summers with his mother to nearby Gearhart.  The passenger service continued until 1952.

“GOOD ROADS” MOVEMENT

A highway along the Columbia River came about through the efforts of Samuel Hill – a lawyer for the Great Northern rail system – and his engineers, Samuel Lancaster and Henry Bowlby in the mid-teens of the 20^th century.  While Hill and Lancaster are better known for the Columbia Gorge Highway, Hill had always seen the Lower Columbia as a logical extension for his highway.  The road was not particularly fast, originally taking more than five hours between Portland and Astoria, though road improvements have knocked that down to about two hours today.

Next came the Roosevelt Coast Highway which hoped to run the length of the Oregon Coast.  Clatsop County literally paved the way by completing a paved road in 1914.  Improvements continued over time, new bridges making travel time shorter.  The highway over Neahkahnie Mountain would not finish until 1940, but roads already extended south from Seaside to Cannon Beach – first known as Elk Creek – and Arch Cape earlier in the early 1900’s.

COASTAL CONNECTION?

Boosters both in Portland and along the northern Coast hoped the Oregon Highway Commission could develop a new faster more direct route between the two.  The only similar route attempted in the mid-19^th century, the Astoria to Salem Military Road, remained unfinished and forgotten over much of its length in the mountains and ancient forests. 

Prior to 1939, the only alternative for motor vehicles to the Lower Columbia Highway was rambling route heading southeast from Astoria up the Youngs and North Fork of the Klaskanine Rivers to cross a divide dropping into the Nehalem Valley at Jewell.  The road – Oregon Highway 202 – then proceeded farther up the Nehalem to connect with Oregon Highway 47 coming north from Vernonia and Timber beyond.  The road to Jewell gained pavement only in 1940.

In 1932, the Federal Highway Aid Act provided monies to States to create more roads and Oregon responded with the Wolf Creek Highway – 64.1 miles – to run from Necanicum Junction to Portland; a newer version of US 101- 21.8 miles – going around Cape Falcon and Neahkahnie Mountain to Newhalem instead of the road at the time going to Necanicum Junction and then south over the course taken by today’s Oregon Highway 53; and the Wilson River Highway – 53.0 miles – running from Tillamook to Banks.

DEPRESSION BRING NEW LABOR FORCE

The Great Depression hit Oregon hard with thousands unemployed.  To put people back to work and develop natural resources on lands owned by government – federal, state, or local – the Civilian Conservation Corps – CCC – came into being in 1933.  Young, unemployed, unmarried men 18 to 25 years of age – later 17 to 28 – could sign up to provide manual labor for a variety of projects scattered about the nation.  Men got shelter, clothing, food, and a wage of $30 per month – $25 sent home to their families.  Nine million men would work for the CCC during the nine years the project ran.

WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION

Two years after the CCC came onto the scene, by presidential executive order, the Works Progress Administration – WPA – came into being.  While the CCC focused on parks, trails, and conservation projects, the WPA took on much more difficult projects constructing roads, highways, bridges, public buildings, airports, electrical projects in addition to similar projects the CCC handled.  The WPA eventually employed over 8,500,000 people – not just young men – working on 1,410,000 projects around the country before the program ended in 1943 – in contrast, the CCC never officially ended and still exists in different forms in various States.

In Oregon, 25,000 people came to work for the WPA.  In Portland, the Rocky Butte Scenic Drive and the Portland Airport were a couple of important early projects, but there were hundreds of other smaller projects. Another project included both the McLoughlin Promenade and the neighboring Singer Falls in Oregon City.  The WPA provided the labor for the new project to create the fast track to the beach beginning in 1933.

NEW HIGHWAY PROJECTS

The highway running from Portland to Seaside, officially named the Wolf Creek Highway, was not the only road project linking the Coast to the Rose City.  Oregon Highway 6, the Wilson River Highway, began at the same time aimed at linking the Tualatin Valley to Tillamook.  WPA workers supplied the labor for this effort as well.  In all, 1,500 workers labored on both projects.

The Wolf Creek Highway – Oregon Highway 2 – began with grading efforts and an 11-mile earthen road connected the Roosevelt Coast Highway – US Highway 101 since 1925 – at Necanicum Junction to the Nehalem River crossing at Elsie.  Gravel roads extended up the Nehalem Valley through Jewell, Birkenfeld and Mist with another road crossing over to St Helens or south through Vernonia, Timber and Forest Grove.  The earthen road changed to a gravel road the following year.

BEGINNINGS

In 1936, Oregon Highway 47 re-routed to the east of Timber and the upper Nehalem Valley to its present path through Buxton to Banks as pavement extended north from Forest Grove to Banks and for a couple miles northwest of Forest Grove towards Gales Creek.  The early stages of the Wilson River Highway began at the same time extending for a few miles east paved and graded onward to Jordan Creek for a total of 18 miles.

For the Wolf Creek Highway, aerial photographs – a new innovation – provided clues on where exactly to set the highway down.  The main difficult grading between Quartz Creek and the Sunset Camp undertaken by men of the WPA.  Sunset Camp was located near the confluence of Wolf Creek and the Nehalem River, next to today’s intersection of US 26 and Timber Road.  Road construction equipment, engineering supervision and explosives came from the Oregon Highway Commission.  The WPA involved itself with the eastern end of the new highway at the same time between the Multnomah County line – Sylvan – and Barnes Road.  The Highway Commission put out $1,253,000 in contracts for the road by the end of 1936 with the WPA allocated $2,135,000 for their efforts.

MOVING FORWARD

WPA gained another $1,846,000 for grading efforts on the Wilson River Highway between Jordan Creek and Glenwood with the Highway Commission giving out another $535,000 for work on Highway 6.  On the Cannon Beach section of US 101, Arch Cape Tunnel was almost complete with 3.5 miles remaining roadbed further on to grade as well as building the Necarney Creek bridge.  The Cannon Beach section shortened the length of US 101 by nine miles while providing access to the future Oswald West State Park and the magnificent views enjoyed from the seaward flanks of Neahkhanie Mountain.  Contracts for this section ca me to $416,000 by the end of 1936.  Both Wolf Creek and Wilson River projects gained sponsorship from Portland, Multnomah County, Washington County, and Tillamook Count to provide work for the unemployed.

A NEW PARK

An adjunct to the Wolf Creek project in 1935 was the development of Saddle Mountain State Park.  Worked on by men of the CCC Company #1258 – mostly New Yorkers, over a five-year period the access road – seven miles north from near the west end of the newly graveled Wolf Creek Highway near Necanicum, picnic grounds, trail head parking and a hiking trail -2.6 miles with 1,620 vertical rise – to the summit were all completed.  To house the young men, tents and later bunkhouses and other camp buildings were built near where the access road came off the Wolf Creek Highway.  With 200 men working out of the camp, smaller camps were set up at Ecola State Park and Neahkahnie Mountain.  In addition to park constructions, the young men contributed fire fighting help during 1936 and 1937.

HIGHWAYS EMERGING

By 1938, the grading of the Wolf Creek Highway west of Sunset Camp was complete.  Gravel surface between Elsie and two miles west of Sunset Camp was set down the following year.  WPA expenses came to $1,525,000 (State contributing $300,000) with another $385,000 coming from the Federal Aid program (State contribution of $110,000).  At the same time further south, only five miles remained to complete the grading efforts between Tillamook and Glenwood.  Paving was complete over the 18 miles running from Tillamook to Jordan Creek.  WPA money here came to $1,865,000 ($225,00 from the State and $140,000 from the original sponsors – Portland and the three counties).

TEMPORARY ENDPOINTS

Wolf Creek Highway ran south from Timber on Timber Road with further connections to Forest Grove and to Portland via the Tualatin Valley Highway.  This was temporary until a tunnel project and road over the mountains along the Nehalem-Tualatin divide shortened the route.  Grading also began on the other side of the tunnel project from Buxton to the Davies grade interchange with Oregon 47 coming north from Banks. 

The 800-foot-long tunnel finished in 1940, along with three bridges and abutments for a fourth.  Those projects all came to $734,000 with the WPA costs of $1,706,000 ($375,700 from the State and $1,800 from Clatsop County).

In the same 1939-1940 biennium, the Wilson River Highway featured a paved distance now of 27.4 miles from Tillamook to McNamer Camp at the confluence of the South Fork and the Devil’s Lake Fork of the Wilson River.  The Highway Commission contracts came to another $217,000 while the WPA work cost $1,587,000 ($280,600 from the State and $53,600 from Tillamook County).

NEAHKHANIE MOUNTAIN

In the following biennium, the new US 101 route from Cannon Beach to Wheeler opened saving 5.65 miles to the old Necanicum-Wheeler road.  This road included an almost two-mile stretch rounding Neahkhanie Mountain several hundred feet above the sea.  Like found in the Columbia Gorge, native rock was used in protective walls blending into the superb views south over Nehalem Bay and beyond.

CONTINUING TO THE EAST

For the Wolf Creek Highway, the 7.88 miles between Sunset Camp and the Davies rail bridge interchange with Oregon 47 south to Banks was graded opening the new road from the Oregon 47 interchange to the Cannon Beach interchange with US 101.  Costs came here to $1,003,000.  On the Wilson River Highway, the Devil’s Lake Fork Bridge and 13.81 more miles were graded by the WPA.  Rock surfacing and pavement resulting in completion of the highway between Tillamook and Washburn School.  Costs came to $519,900 while the eastern end still came out in Forest Grove with a final piece of the puzzle to come.

A NEW NAME AS THE HIGHWAYS BECOME REALITY

Right after the end of World War 2, the Wolf Creek Highway got a new name – the Sunset Highway.  “Sunset” was the nickname of the 41^st Infantry Division of which Oregon National Guard units made up a significant part.  The insignia of the 41^st was a setting sun though the men also earned another nickname from the fighting they participated in New Guinea and the Philippines, the Jungleers.  The Highway Commission voted to rename Highway 2 in the division’s honor – one infantry brigade (162^nd  and 186^th Infantry Regiments), and one field artillery regiment all came out of the Oregon Guard.  The last 22.1 miles of the Sunset Highway saw construction begin; this is the long straight section running through the heart of the Tualatin Plains to Sylvan.  Costs here ran another $740,000 between 1945 and 1946.

With 1948, completion of the Sunset Highway came about.  The last long straightaway was graded, surfaced, and paved.  The eastern 2.52 miles were four lanes while the rest remained with two.  The cost to complete the highway penciled out to another $2,328,836.  The ‘fast’ connection to the beach was complete.  In 1952 the highway was also re-numbered, from Oregon Highway 2 to US Highway 26.  

With time and population growth, the Sunset Highway has increased in size – six to eight lanes in places closer to Portland dropping to four lanes west past Cornelius Pass.  The road drops to two lanes after the interchange with the Wilson River Highway interchange with passing lanes on either the eastbound or westbound lanes at sites of significant grades.

WILSON RIVER HIGHWAY FINAL TOUCHES

The Wilson River Highway saw some concrete additions to the surface of the road leading between McNemar Camp and Washburn School.  Highway 6 still ran south to Forest Grove though that would change.  The change came in 1954-1956 when a section between Washburn and a junction with the Sunset Highway four miles north of North Plains.  Ten miles were graded during that biennium at a cost of $1,207,496.  The final paving work on the 9.76 miles between Glenwood and the Sunset junction was completed by 1958.

BRIDGES THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS

Several significant bridges played roles in the development of the two highways.  For the Sunset Highway, the Nehalem Bridge completed in 1939 over that river near Elsie eliminated a three-mile detour.  The concrete arch bridge cost $130,000.  At a length of 617 feet, the bridge rises about the same height over the Nehalem gorge beneath.  The longest arch span reaches 231 feet over the river.

Another significant bridge on the Sunset just a little east of the Nehalem Bridge is the North Fork Quartz Creek Bridge.  This was also built in 1939 with a total length of 835 feet.  The longest span reaches 105 feet.  A steel stringer bridge with 14 spans rising above steel truss towers. 

This bridge looks very similar to the Necarney Creek Bridge on US 101. 

Another bridge it resembles is found on the Wilson River Highway.  Here, the Devil’s Lake Fork Bridge, finished in 1940, was a significant achievement on this highway. 

This steel stringer constructed bridge with built-up steel bents crossed another significant gorge with a length of 590.9 feet – longest span reaching 105 feet.