Tag Archives: George McClellan

ASTORIA TO SALEM ROAD – MAGIC AHEAD OF ITS TIME?

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Cuillin smiling atop Saddle Mountain. The Astoria to Salem Road ventured around the peak – Green Mountain – in the center – Mouth of the Columbia River and Astoria lie above.

The 1840’s saw emigrants begin to make Oregon – especially the Willamette Valley – a destination of choice.  After a brief struggle, newcomers chose to make Salem the capital of the new Territory instead of Oregon City.  But Salem was definitely an inland choice.  Transportation to the sea was needed to enable easier communication with the rest of the World as opposed to a six-month jaunt across the Rockies.  As the 1850’s rolled on, the best choice of a seaport lay at the mouth of the Columbia River – enter the Astoria to Salem Road, military in purported purpose, but strategic thinking lay at the heart.

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MCCLELLAN ON A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY IN THE NORTHWEST

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Sign noting McClellan's passage through the dense forests of the southern Cascades.
Sign noting McClellan’s passage through the dense forests of the southern Cascades.

As future generals for the Federal Army during the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant and Philip Sheridan are also remembered for their service in the Pacific Northwest during the 1850’s.  Another, George Brinton McClellan made a cameo appearance. He led a group tasked with identifying a possible rail route through the Cascades.  In addition, they potential were to build a military road across the mountain chain so emigrant wagons could more easily reach the Puget Sound of Washington Territory.  This reconnaissance gave McClellan his first extended period of independent command since graduating from West Point with the Class of 1846.

Before George McClellan became the leading Federal general in the early Civil War, he served in the wilds of Washington, surveying for railroad routes.

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