A Portland highway question for the long-timers

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A Portland highway question for the long-timers

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Started 1 year ago by tadc
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tadc

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Posts: 196

(Notice I didn't say old-timers!)

I noticed something new the other day about a place I'd been a thousand times before, and it made me wonder.

On I5, around half-mile North of the Terwilliger overpass, there's a big concrete wall, apparently holding up the hillside and keeping it from sliding down onto the freeway.

I always assumed it was part of the freeway earthworks, but something always struck me strange about the apparent aged look of it.

What I noticed is this: near the top at both ends of the wall, it's clearly stamped "1913".

One would naturally assume that this is a date... but what is it doing there? That would be long before the construction of I5, or even the 99W viaduct above it.

That made me wonder about the original/pre-Barbur Blvd. southbound route out of Portland. I assume that Capitol Hwy is a part of it, but the route I'm aware of for Capitol Hwy starts at Barbur/Beaverton-Hillsdale.

I wonder if the original route for Capitol Hwy ran where I5 is now and is the reason for that wall?

Any thoughts or ideas?

Thanks.

Posted on June 24, 2009 - 02:03 PM #
kennewickman

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You are probably right about that being the orginal wagon track to Salem. Or it could have been a retaining wall built to reinforce the ground above it for Barbur Blvd, which may have been Captiol Hiway at that point, although as I remember it , Captiol Hiway actually goes through the community of Multnomah, which is further West of Barbur by quite a ways.

Speaking of historical landmarks..I wonder if that memorial to some Sheriff who died in the 1930s is still on S.W. 35th where it goes on the south side of I-5 in the hills just east of the old Capitol Hiway not far from PCC. 35th goes down into a wooded swail ( or used to be wooded ) kind of remote out there. Seems back in the 30s some escaped convict got loose in S. W. Portland and offed the Multomah co. Sheriff on that road or street or perhaps it was just a gully back then...And they errected a concrete marker by the side of the road at the very bottom of the swail.

Posted on June 24, 2009 - 02:14 PM #
jr_tech

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I can't find a map, but I believe that the Oregon Electric RR ran through there:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Electric_Railway

Posted on June 24, 2009 - 02:19 PM #
paulwalker

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I can't speak for 1913, but I do have a 1937 Oregon road map that shows the main highways south out of Portland during this time were 99W and 99E, both which still exist today. 99W was Barbur Blvd., and 99E was, and is McLoughlin Blvd. Not sure which route had the bulk of the traffic.

On a side note, in 1937 the northbound route out of Portland was Interstate Avenue, connecting with US99 at Columbia Blvd. The inbound route from the north was US99 onto Denver Ave., a quick left on Lombard, then right and south again on Interstate. Kind of a circuitous route coming in from the north. The same 1937 map shows Sandy and Burnside (US30, and ALT US30, respectively) as the main routes eastbound.

Posted on June 24, 2009 - 05:29 PM #
sp_redelectric

new electron
Posts: 2

JR_Tech is correct - it's a retaining wall built by the Oregon Electric Railroad. In fact there was an article about it in The Oregonian a few weeks ago.

The OE Railroad was routed along what is now I-5 from downtown Portland (where Harbor Drive turns and becomes Clay/Market) to Multnomah Boulevard, along Multnomah to Garden Home where it split into lines to Beaverton (part of which is now a trail, part of which is called the Oregon Electric Right-of-Way Trail) and onto Hillsboro where MAX is now. A second line split to the south to Tigard, and WES now operates on the line to Wilsonville but the OE (and freight railroad today) continues all the way to Eugene.

Meanwhile, a competing railroad, the Red Electric (hence my user name) used what is now Barbur Boulevard and Bertha Boulevard to reach Beaverton; there are efforts within the City to create a "Red Electric Trail" using the left-over right-of-way from Hillsdale to Raleigh Hills ( http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/index.cfm?a=155483&c=47245 ), then on the existing railroad alongside TV Highway from Beaverton to Hillsboro, Forest Grove, south to McMinnville and ultimately to Corvallis. A second route out of McMinnville followed a route along Highway 43/Macadam Blvd., portions of the line continue to exist from the South Waterfront to Lake Oswego now used by the Willamette Shores Trolley ( http://oerhs.org/wst/index.htm ), then west to Tualatin, Sherwood, Newberg and ultimately McMinnville connecting with the line to Corvallis. Most of this track is still used for freight service.

http://pdxhistory.com/html/oregon_electric.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Electric_Railway

Posted on June 24, 2009 - 05:54 PM #
Alfredo_T

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http://pdxhistory.com/html/oregon_electric.html

At the bottom of that page is a photo of the interior of the Champoeg Car with a screen grid (tetrode) radio. I wonder what kind of radio reception they got on an electric rail car.

Posted on June 24, 2009 - 06:16 PM #
jr_tech

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I wonder, how did they power the Atwater Kent ?... I thought the Oregon Electrics ran on 600v DC, the A-K 60 (8tube) and 55 (7tube), which were the early tetrode sets were indeed AC powered:

http://www.atwaterkent.info/TechData/Drawings/Images/AK15000sch.pdf

Reception must have been tough... as late as 1936*, Portland stations were pretty low power:

KALE 1300 .5kw
KBPS 1420 .1kw
KEX 1180 .5kw
KFJR 1300 .5kw (share with KALE?)
KGW 620 1kw
KOIN 940 1kw
KWJJ 1040 .5kw
KXL 1420 .1kw (share with KBPS?)

KSLM 1370 .1kw (Salem)

KOAC 550 1kw (Corvallis)

KORE 1420 .1kw (Eugene)

*from 1936 Radio Data Book

Posted on June 24, 2009 - 07:44 PM #
tadc

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Thanks for the informative posts guys!

I remember reading somewhere that Barbur was constructed in the mid-30s, so that still leaves me wondering about how traffic got from downtown to the Capitol hwy we know today. Kennewickman, you're right that Captiol goes through Multnomah, but it continues, partially via co-routings on SW 30th and Vermont to the village of Hillsdale and joins with Beaverton-Hillsdale hwy. Prior to B-H construction, I'd bet that Capitol's route continued through Hillsdale and on down the hill toward the junction with present-day Barbur. Looking at Google maps, the orphan throughfare now known as SW Slavin Rd. seems like a likely candidate for the former continuation. See:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=45.480425,-122.680021&spn=0.000866,0.001632&t=h&z=20

Possibly it joined with Macadam near there somewhere.. I know that the current hwy 43 is one of the oldest N-S highway routings through Portland... when the old Oregon City bridge was constructed, it was part of the main N-S highway and continued so until 99E/W opened in the 30s.

Posted on June 25, 2009 - 04:45 PM #
skeptical

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There's pictures on the wall at the Fred Meyer Burlingame store (by the restrooms) that show Barbur Blvd being built, cutting a swath through the hillsides. There's also photos of the store being built, so you MIGHT see that railroad in the canyon in one of the picture.

Posted on June 25, 2009 - 04:51 PM #
sp_redelectric

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Macadam Boulevard was originally Highway 99E - in fact there is a stretch of Highway 43 in West Linn that is signed as "Pacific Highway" on the street signs. McLoughlin Boulevard was built later and 99E was moved over to it; just as 99W was moved off of Capitol and onto Barbur (and further south, off of what is now Wallace Road/Highway 221 from Dayton to Salem and onto the current routing through McMinnville).

I haven't found any pictures but my guess is that the railroad and Capitol Highway either paralleled each other, or as tadc stated likely followed what is now known as Slavin Road (I never knew that "road" had a name, at least as it is wedged between Barbur and I-5.)

Posted on June 26, 2009 - 05:20 PM #
paulwalker

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Interesting. These realignments of the highway must have occured before 1937, as referenced in my post about my 1937 road map.

On a related note, when was I-5 completed through Portland? I want to say it was a few years earlier than when completed through Seattle, which was 1963-65.

Posted on June 26, 2009 - 05:35 PM #
jr_tech

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A sub section (Red Electric) of the link above has some nice pictures of the Elk Rock Trestle... where was that located?

http://pdxhistory.com/html/red_electrics.html

There is also a nice picture of the Bertha station located under an overpass west of Hillsdale. (I guess that is the same overpass that we see today next to Beaverton Hillsdale Hy?). I have read/heard that a bad head-on rr collision occurred on near that location in the early 20's... any details?

Posted on June 26, 2009 - 06:23 PM #
stevengann

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I have been following this board for a few years, and finally decided to post something.

I read something a while ago (but either on line or in the Oregonian, so consider the sources)that Capitol Highway never was a route between Salem and Portland. The story was that a developer had built it between Barbur Boulevard, up through Hillsdale, and on through to where it intersects Barbur again and present day I-5. Not sure how far it continues up towards PCC Sylvania. I don't remember why it was named Capitol Highway.

Before I read this, I had also always figured its name had something to do with being the way to Salem

Posted on June 26, 2009 - 06:49 PM #
jr_tech

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"Before I read this, I had also always figured its name had something to do with being the way to Salem"

Me too, and it appears that that Wikipedia agrees:

"The first highway in the corridor was the Capitol Highway (Highway 3), from Portland to Salem via Dayton (roughly present OR 99W and OR 221)."

"The original alignment in southern Portland, bypassed in the 1930s by Barbur Boulevard, is still called Capitol Highway."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Route_99W

Posted on June 26, 2009 - 07:23 PM #
kennewickman

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That is right. Capitol Hiway was so named before the US Hiway act which didnt become an act of congress until 1919 and not realized in many areas of the country for another 10 years or more. US 99E and W came in during the late 20s and early 30s. Oregon had some local hiways with other state route designations before that. Many of those roads were crude to say the least. Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton had a lot to do with influencing the military brass and then subsequently Congress to pass such an act as those two young pups had one helluva time getting military equipment from the east coast to Mexico to kick Poncho Villa's ass in 1916.

That route 3 came out of Portland from front avenue up the hill around Corbett/Barbur off shoot to Hillsdale/Multnomah ( a portion of what is now the Beaverton Hillsdale Hwy ) south and up top of the crest to what is known still as " Capitol Hill" to where Barbur insects Capitol Hiway with the ramps to I-5. I used to live in that part of Portland for a number of years in the 1970s. I used to stare a lot at that cute old bridge that goes through the community of Multnomah that is part of the old Capitol Hiway.

The route 3 ,then, I believe went down the hill to Tigard and connected to all those little towns that are associated with 99w now. But the road was different somewhat , I think. It wasnt as straight as 99w and the route meandered to this town and that widespot in the road kind of like a horse driven stage routes.

I-5 in Southwest Portland was completed before the Minnesota Freeway in North Portland was. I do remember that as a kid. My folks had a beach place in Lincoln City and I had to go a lot. God what a trip that was..all the construction around 64 to 66'. We had to use Interstate Ave forever..down to Front Street from across the Steele Bridge( I think ) , past the seawall and the Oregonian plant, then up to Barbur then to Tigard and the coast Route to the Beach. It was a lot easier going when they completed the Marquam Bridge, and the Minnesota Freeway. Seems to me that didnt happen in entirety until 1967. As I remember this, the Marquam Bridge was completed last, after the Minnesota Freeway and the Eastbank Fwy. I remember the first time my Dad drove me across Portland on the totally completed I-5, going someplace or another. I couldnt believe how fast it was !

The final big hang ups on completing I-5 from Canada to San Diego during those years were at Portland and the section of road between Cottage Grove and Roseburg, Oregon. That section of Hwy was forever and a day being cut through those mountains. We had family in Roseburg, so I remember that sloging slow misery of traffic as a kid too.

Posted on June 26, 2009 - 10:02 PM #
paulwalker

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Yes, Al, but Northern California was even slower! I have some maps from around 1970 that show that I-5 was complete all through Oregon, but turned into a 2-lane highway from the CA border all the way down to Mt. Shasta. Evidently CA considered this part of I-5 to be the least important!

Posted on June 26, 2009 - 10:38 PM #
skeptical

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You could make left turns from the I-5 southbound lanes as late as the '80s around Shasta Lake.

Posted on June 26, 2009 - 11:11 PM #
jimbo

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"We had to use Interstate Ave forever..down to Front Street from across the Steele Bridge( I think ) , past the seawall and the Oregonian plant, then up to Barbur then to Tigard and the coast Route to the Beach."

Let me correct that for you:
We had to use Interstate Ave forever..down to Harbor Drive from across the Steele Bridge, past the seawall and the Oregon Journal plant, then to Barbur and on to Tigard and the coast Route to the Beach.

Front was never a street. It was (and is) an Avenue.

"and the section of road between Cottage Grove and Roseburg, Oregon"
Should say between about Cottage Grove and Grants Pass, Oregon. There were stretches of I-5 that were still two lanes along that path. I used to drive it weekly from 1965-1968. I remember passing cars and trucks in my 65 Impala going up the 2 lane uphill stretch south of the Winston turnoff. Also, they rerouted the road and bypassed Wolf Creek and the Wolf Creek Inn. Used to pass that often.

California was later in getting finished. Used to go down 99 a lot, through Chico and get in a mess at Sacramento due to the navigation problems there during construction. Went down 99 from Sacramento to Bakersfield, also.
Driving to LA in 1965 was interesting in 65.

Posted on June 27, 2009 - 04:15 AM #
kennewickman

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I got food poisoning once at that Wolf Creek Inn in 1973. I think it was the coffee creamer.

Posted on June 27, 2009 - 12:34 PM #
KE7JFF

flaming capacitor
Posts: 46

I remember one of my teachers in HS told of how the trip on 99 to anywhere south of Eugene took forever. So many small towns along the way that slowed you down. When I-5 came around around, he was very happy.

Posted on June 27, 2009 - 11:57 PM #
tadc

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Once again, great discussion. It's not often I get a chance to nerd out about historical road routings and stuff like this.

Re: Capitol Hwy - it seems to come to an end down below PCC after splitting off from 45th at an unsigned right turn onto SW Palatine:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=SW+Capitol+Hwy,+Portland,+Multnomah,+Oregon&sll=45.582507,-122.699567&sspn=0.013831,0.026114&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FaS2tQIdk3iv-A&split=0&ll=45.444036,-122.730879&spn=0.006948,0.013057&t=h&z=17

I assume that it used to continue through to the old Main St. in Tigard and onward south.

Re: pre-99 Pacific Highway - for those familiar with Oregon City, I've long suspected that South End Rd. is the former routing of Pacific Hwy (prior to the construction of the 'tunnel' and the 4-lane along the Willamette in the 30s, presumably contemporary to the McLaughlin Blvd construction), but I have no idea where to go to confirm that.

Posted on June 29, 2009 - 01:55 PM #
MLWalker

new electron
Posts: 1

Found this old thread and thought I'd chime. Not sure anyone's still following, but old roads are my thing.

People used to reach Hillsdale (formerly Bertha) via Slavin Road, which headed south out of downtown, approximating the path of Corbett until just south of Hamilton. A section of Slavin Road remains, starting south of Hamilton, wandering past some apartment buildings (some of which were formerly sites of wartime housing) and is blocked short distance before it would have veered west up what is now Capitol Highway between Barbur and Terwilliger. A segment of the old road is visible just east of/underneath the overpass that connects Capitol Highway to the north-bound lanes of Barbur. Capitol followed the existing path through Hillsdale, includes a segment that overlays Vermont, then heads south through Multnomah to eventually cross Barbur. It originally crossed Barbur a couple of blocks east of the existing crossing, about where the TriMet park-n-ride lot is. Several blocks south of Barbur, Capitol Highway heads west again, off the main road that becomes Kerr Parkway, and then it headed through Tigard and on to Dayton and Salem.

A segment of Capitol Highway was obliterated by the construction of I-5 near the Tigard exit, but pieces of the original highway still exist west of I-5 in that area in the form of short loops on the south side of Pacific Highway toward Tigard. You can look for them in about the vicinity of Fred Meyer - they form short frontage roads that are still used by businesses there, near the Fantasy adult shop and near where 72nd crosses Pacific Highway - and a few other places in that stretch of the Pacific Highway.

Macadam Avenue was known as White House road deep in the past.

Another interesting tidbit: there used to be a large cemetery between Corbett and Macadam,sort of straddling Lowell. It wasn't heavily used, due to the steep slope there, and has since been redeveloped with condos.

There are interesting maps and neighborhood photographs from the City of Portland archives that have been scanned and placed in a searchable database or by neighborhood by Gregory Goss (http://www.gregorygross.com/portlandphotos/default.aspx)

Slavin Road was constructed to reach Mr. Slavin's quarry somewhere in Hillsdale. I'd love to know where the quarry was located, if anyone has any ideas. I've looked at old topographic maps, but don't see any features that suggest a quarry in Hillsdale.

Here's another interesting web site: http://starkstreetmarkers.blogspot.com/2008/05/blog-post.html about old mile markers on SE Stark/Baseline. Mile markers used to dot Capitol Highway, as well, and one remains on the grounds of the Capitol Hill branch of the Multnomah County Library.

Posted on October 4, 2009 - 12:08 PM #
tadc

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Posts: 196

Excellent post MLWalker!

I wonder if the quarry was the site of Wilson HS, or perhaps on the grounds of Gabriel park?

Thanks for the Gross link, that's very interesting.

Posted on October 5, 2009 - 04:41 PM #

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