Tag Archives: Oregon highways

SUNSETS ON THE SUNSET HIGHWAY – SHORTCUT TO NORTH COAST MAGIC

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The Goal – a fast connection to the Oregon Coast from Portland. Enter the Sunset Highway.

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. 

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HENRY BOWLBY – FLYING BISCUITS TO THE COLUMBIA

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The two Samuel’s – Hill and Lancaster – get all of the attention for the building of the Columbia River highway in the Gorge where the mighty river bores through the Cascades Range. The highway project proposed by Sam Hill included a highway from Portland downriver to the ocean at Astoria. Enter Henry Lee Bowlby.

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