This Historic Oregon Road with a Waterfall Loop Launched America’s Love for Road Trips

America’s First Scenic Highway

The Historic Columbia River Highway in Oregon took nine years to build, from 1913 to 1922 connecting Troutdale to The Dalles. Engineer Samuel Lancaster designed the road to show off the Columbia River Gorge’s natural waterfalls. Today, this 75-mile highway built by hand still draws more than two million visitors each year.

An Engineering Marvel

In 1913, workers began the challenging task of building a road into cliff walls that rose 900 feet above the Columbia River. They used steam shovels to cut through the rock. To handle rain and snow, they created special channels and collection basins.

The construction team also dug out more than 100,000 cubic yards of rock for tunnels. One of these, the Mitchell Point Tunnel, stretched 390 feet and had five windows carved right into the rock wall.

Officially Opened in 1922

A completion ceremony for the Columbia River Highway was held on June 27, 1922, when Simon Benson symbolically helped pave the final portion near Rowena.

By then, the roadway was part of a longer Columbia River Highway, stretching from Astoria on the Pacific Ocean east to Pendleton as Highway No. 2 in a large network of state highways.

Years Ahead of Their Time

Engineer and landscape architect, Samuel Lancaster used curves similar to the road he had designed at Maryhill. He created a drainage system by raising the road’s center, adding curbs and gutters, and using culverts for heavy rain.

For the Multnomah County section, he designed 11 concrete bridges and viaducts to cross streams and steep hills with little earthwork.

Inspired by Swiss Mountain Highways

Before building the highway, Lancaster spent three months in Switzerland studying how they built roads in the Alps. He took photos and measurements of their mountain roads, especially one called the Axenstrasse near Lake Lucerne.

The highway copies the Swiss style of looping back and forth to climb hills without getting too steep. At Rowena Crest, the road forms a figure-eight pattern to climb 600 feet while staying at a comfortable slope.

Follows Ancient Native American Paths

The Multnomah, Wasco, and Warm Springs peoples traveled these paths. Celilo Falls was a central gathering place for Native American tribes for over 15,000 years, serving as a major fishing and trading site. Several stopping points along the highway, like Horsethief Lake and Mitchell Point, look out over spots where tribes used to fish until the mid-1900s.

Records Millions of Years of Rock Formation

The road cuts through layers of dark rock (from the Columbia River Basalt Group) that formed from lava flows 15 to 17 million years ago during a time called the Miocene epoch. The Missoula floods not only carved the gorge but also left behind features like ripple marks and scoured basalt.

The Iconic Vista House

This landmark serves as a rest stop, observatory, and memorial to Oregon pioneers. In 1918, workers finished building the Vista House at Crown Point, which cost nearly $99,148.05. Architect Edgar M. Lazarus laid it in Art Nouveau style, featuring an octagonal structure with a domed rotunda.

The building has gray sandstone walls and a green tile roof made to handle the gorge’s strong winds, which can blow over 100 miles per hour. Inside, you’ll find walls of Alaskan marble, amber-colored windows, and a spiral staircase with brass railings leading to a deck 733 feet above the river.

Hand-Placed Rocks

Lancaster was one of the first engineers to care about protecting nature while building a road. Instead of using lots of concrete, workers carefully placed rocks by hand to build walls. One notable example is the famous “Vista House” retaining walls and rockwork at Crown Point, which offers undisrupted views of the Columbia River Gorge.

Highway History During World War II

During World War II, this scenic road became an important military route that connected Portland to the Bonneville Dam, which powered aluminum factories. It facilitated the movement of military personnel and supplies between Portland and defense camps.

It also passed by significant military sites, such as Camp Rufus, Madras Army Airfield, Redmond Army Airfield, and Camp Abbot at Sunriver, all were vital for various military training operations during the war.

Unique Wall Design

The highway shows local stone workers’ dry masonry featured guard walls, which kept drivers and pedestrians from falling off the road. They shaped basalt stones using drills to create break lines, followed by the application of feathers and wedges to split the rock.

You can still see these walls at Crown Point and along the highway’s edges. The workers placed the stones in a way that let water drain naturally (without the need for mortar).

Some Sections Welcome Hikers and Cyclists

A 10-mile stretch of the old highway between Hood River and Mosier is now a path for walking and biking. The path lets people walk or bike through some historic spots, including the Mosier Twin Tunnels (abandoned in the 1950s).

In 2024, the Oregon Department of Transportation completed the reconstruction of the Mitchell Point Tunnel, a 390-foot-long passageway with five scenic openings cut into the mountain.