page_title: Barlow Road
section_title: Planning and construction
hierarchical_section_title: Barlow Road / Planning and construction
caption_attribution_description: English: The Road-Hunters
context_page_description: The Barlow Road is a historic road in what is now the U.S. state of Oregon. It was built in 1846 by Sam Barlow and Philip Foster, with authorization of the Provisional Legislature of Oregon, and served as the last overland segment of the Oregon Trail. Its construction allowed covered wagons to cross the Cascade Range and reach the Willamette Valley, which had previously been nearly impossible. Even so, it was by far the most harrowing 100 miles of the nearly 2,000-mile Oregon Trail.
  Before the opening of the Barlow Road, pioneers traveling by land from the east followed the Oregon Trail to Wascopam Mission and floated down the Columbia River to Fort Vancouver, then a perilous and expensive journey. It was also possible to drive livestock over Lolo Pass on the north side of Mount Hood, but that trail was too rugged for vehicles and unsuitable for wagons. A trading post had been built where river crossings could be made along with the disassembly of wagons to make rafts suitable for floating down the remainder of the Columbia.
context_section_description: When Sam Barlow arrived at The Dalles late September 1845, as many as sixty families were waiting for river transport.  The expected wait was more than ten days, and the transportation "exorbitantly" priced. Local inquiries turned up little information about traveling over the mountains except that water, timber, and grazing were plentiful. Barlow and H. M. Knighton set out to determine the feasibility of a route, seeking a more expedient and less expensive way to the Willamette Valley.  Knighton decided it was impractical after 20 or 25 miles (30–40 km) and returned.  Barlow forged on with a train of seven wagons, intending to return for river transport if the mountain passage proved impractical.
  On October 1, 1845, Barlow and three men scouted ahead of their company and entered Mount Hood's foothills from the east near Tygh Creek, about 35 miles (56 km) from the mouth of the Deschutes River. They came within perhaps 12 miles (19 km) of Mount Hood. They thought they had glimpsed the Willamette Valley, and learned from the Indians of a trail leading to Oregon City, but returned to Tygh Creek about five days after their departure. There Joel Palmer was waiting for him with a 23 wagon party.  Palmer had followed Barlow for a better route, and had just returned from exploring the same area.  The combined company organized road clearing through the forest, mostly by burning.
  The clearing party made it to the top of a ridge, now known as Barlow Pass, where they were effectively lost.  Barlow, Palmer, and a man named Harrison Porter Locke hiked the south face of Mount Hood west of Palmer Glacier to scout a westward route off the mountain. Palmer, in better physical condition than his companions, climbed high on the glacier (likely Zigzag Glacier), and took detailed notes on the surrounding ridges and rivers. They returned to the group, arranged for guards for their wagons at a place they named Fort Deposit. Several families in wagons ill-suited for travel through the wilderness remained at Fort Deposit, while the remainder returned to The Dalles.  Barlow's group followed the Sandy River west on foot.  Palmer noted an intersection with a trail coming from The Dalles by way of Lolo Pass, around the north side of Mount Hood, which had previously been the only overland trail traversed by pioneers. Near the present-day city of Sandy, they turned southwest to reach Eagle Creek and Philip Foster's farm near present-day Clackamas.
  That autumn, Barlow considered the route over the mountains and petitioned the Provisional Legislature of Oregon for permission to build a road on December 9, 1845, claiming that his estimated cost of $4000 was lower than that of others familiar with the route. Permission was granted with a vote of 8-2 on December 17, 1845, approved by Speaker pro-tem Henry A. G. Lee, and signed into law by Governor George Abernethy.
  The road's toll was authorized for two years effective January 1, 1846 and specified toll rates at five dollars (about a week's wages, equivalent to about $142.00 today) for each wagon and ten cents for each head of horse, mule, ass, or horned cattle. The grant named the route "Mount Hood Road"—but it was immediately known as the "Barlow Road."
  The road was built with the financial backing of Philip Foster and a crew of forty men.  Five toll gates were eventually built along the route.  Barlow's estimate of $4000 (equivalent to $110 thousand today) had underestimated the number of trees to be cut down and forgotten the numerous challenging bridges that would have to be built over rivers such as the Sandy, Zigzag, White, and Salmon.  The White River continues to challenge its bridges to this day.
  In its first season of operation, Barlow recorded the passage of 152 wagons, 1300 sheep, 1559 mules, horses, and cattle.  Despite ongoing maintenance, the general condition of the road was considered to vary from "rough to barely passable."
caption: A depiction of the explorers who first charted the Barlow Road by engraver Nathaniel Orr, from Eleven Years in the Rocky Mountains.
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