THE CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY IN OREGON 



415 



on which is located the beautiful Beaver Falls. 



In Multnomah County the highway has been 

 practically completed and paved for a distance of 44l/> 

 miles east from Portland. At a 

 distance of 23 miles from the 

 city, Crown Point is reached. 

 The road here is carried around 

 the top of a rock cliff at an ele- 

 vation of 750 feet above the 

 river, on a curve of 110-foot 

 radius. The central angle of the 

 curve is 225 degrees. On the 

 outer edge of the road a 7-foot 

 sidewalk has been built and is 

 protected with a concrete railing 

 4 feet high. 



Latourell Falls is passed at 20 

 miles and Shepperd's Dell at 

 27.5 miles. Bridal Veil Falls is 

 one mile farther and Gordon 

 Falls or Waukena (most beauti- 

 ful) Falls in Benson Park are 

 31.5 miles from Portland. Mult- 

 nomah Falls, the largest and 

 grandest of the ten waterfalls 

 encountered in this county, are 

 a mile beyond Waukena Falls. 

 A large park of four hundred 



Another point of especial interest is the Oneonta 

 Gorge and Tunnel two miles from Multnomah Falls. 

 The highway crosses the stream on a reinforced con- 



McCORD CREEK BRIDGE 



THE APPROACH TO A TUNNEL 



The difficulty of the construction at a point like this was solved in 

 the manner so vividly indicated by the photograph. 



acres, including the best of the falls and the most rugged 

 of the landscape, was purchased and presented to the 

 public as a gift by Mr. S. Benson, of Portland. 



Type of artistic construction of bridges along the Columbia River highway which is so in keeping with 

 the wonderful natural scenic features so numerous along the entire route. 



crete bridge and passes immediately into a tunnel 125 

 feet in length. The height of the rock cliff is 205 feet, 

 the railroad is close to the face of the cliff and the 

 river is next to the railroad so that a tunnel was the 

 only solution of the problem. 



Horsetail Falls are a few hundred yards farther and 

 40.0 miles out from Portland the scenic three-hinged 

 arch bridge over Moffet Creek is crossed. 



Twenty miles more the Bowlby Tunnel is entered and 

 the city of Hood River is five miles farther east. Pen- 

 dleton, the home of the "Round-up," is the eastern 

 terminus of the Columbia Highway, distant from Seaside 

 363 miles. A variation of rainfall of unusual degree is 

 found on this highway. At Astoria, nearly a hundred 

 inches per year is the average ; at Portland, forty-two 

 inches; while at Cascade Locks the precipitation is sev- 

 enty-seven inches; and sixty miles farther east it is fif- 

 teen inches per year. 



In Hood River County the gorge of the Columbia 

 widens out again above the Cascades, where is to be 

 seen some of the grandest and most rugged scenery 

 in the world. At one point five miles west of Hood 

 River City it was found that the most economical con- 

 struction would be a tunnel through solid rock for a 

 distance of 400 feet. To have built over the point of 

 rock using the maximum grade of 5 per cent would 

 have required an additional mile of road. The state 

 appropriated $50,000 to construct this section of the 

 highway, 4,500 feet in length. Topographical condi- 



