Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/279



1. Route:

The line of survey as proposed by Elliott is interesting in contrast to that of Barry and to that actually followed when the road was built. The route from Shasta went up the Sacramento River to its head and there passed the summit between the Sacramento and Shasta rivers, where it followed the Shasta for twenty-one miles and then turned west to go through Yreka. From there it turned back into the Shasta Valley for fifteen miles where it turned north, following Willow Creek until it reached the Klamath river. It crossed the Klamath anr there started toward the summit of the Siskiyou Mountains. Through the Siskiyous it turned east until it reachel the head of Emigrant Creek following "along the west slope of the ridge to the east of Bear Creek for twenty-six and one-half miles from the summit to the valley of Bear Creek; along Bear Creek Valley to Jacksonville, thence down the Rogue River for twenty miles along the stage road to Cow Creek, up Cow Creek to the Canon, through Canon and through Canyonville along the Umpqua to Roseburg." It then followed the stage road to Pass Creek which it followed to the Willamette Valley. Passing through Eugene it crossed the Willamette at Corvallis, "thence along the East side of the River through Albany in a direct line to Jefferson," where it crossed the Santiam, "thence along to east of Salem Hills down Mill Creek through Salem and French Prairie to Oregon City" where it crossed the river going through the Tualatin Plains "to Portland or some point on the Columbia."

2. Grade:

A unique feature of the survey was that at no place was the grade over one hundred feet to the mile. Even over the Siskiyous the grade was only to be 83 feet to the mile. Nor was the grade obtained by continual curving. The road was largely a straight line. Of the six hundred