Canyon Road
Encyclopedia
Canyon Road is a road
connecting Beaverton
and Portland, Oregon
, United States
. It was the first road between the Tualatin Valley
and Portland and contributed significantly to Portland becoming the area's major deep water port, and subsequent early growth of the city.
The total modern length is 6.5 miles (10.5 km).
. A plank road
was suggested by Portland entrepreneur and proprietor Daniel H. Lownsdale
as a means to transport abundant Tualatin Valley farm produce and grains to California Gold Rush
-inflated markets in San Francisco, California
. Col. William Williams Chapman, another proprietor, expended time and expense providing the basics for fledgling Portland in an effort to counter competition by other upstart towns and Hudson's Bay Company
. He founded The Oregonian
, enlarged Portland's platt, improving the city's streets, and ushered construction of Canyon Road. Others already invested in the city contributed to help make Portland the prime seaport of the region, including persuading others to join them, removing river obstructions, and importing goods from Asia and beyond.
The Portland & Valley Plank Road Company was chartered in January 1851 by the territorial government
. Editor of the Weekly Oregonian
newspaper, Thomas J. Dryer
, immediately invested $500 and promoted the project. Stephen Coffin and William W. Chapman
pledged $3000, with Daniel H. Lownsdale
pledging $2000. Ultimately over $35,000 was pledged but not all was paid, with Coffin, Chapman and Lownsdale likely to have not paid in full.
Coffin gave the contract to a sawmill owned by himself and Simeon Reed, and the first plank was laid on September 27, 1851, leading to a large celebration. By November 1851, less than $3,000 in pledges had been collected, while $11,000 had been spent. The road had progressed fewer than three miles. The route, however, was excavated, following the canyon of Tanner Creek on the east side of the Tualatin Mountains
.
By spring of 1852, just over $6,000 had been collected and $14,000 spent, leading to the replacement of management and directors. The project remained incomplete for three years until Supreme Court Justice Cyrus Olney
required subscribers to pay at least 80% of the pledged amount. Back wages were still owed by December 1855, leading Olney to demand full payment from subscribers and for county sheriffs to find delinquent subscribers.
On January 25, 1856, the territorial government hired a new company to complete the road, and the city's merchant leaders (including William S. Ladd
and Josiah Failing
) raised $75,000 for the new Portland and Tualatin Plains Plank Road Company, finishing the road by the end of 1856. The road, though never completely planked, was favored by farmers of Polk
, Yamhill
, and Washington
counties since it saved between three and ten miles (16 km) travel to the next nearest ports at St. Johns and St. Helens
, but on a rough muddy road through deep woods. Harvey W. Scott
said this new toll road
was still difficult for travel and the entrance was "almost inaccessible", but the road was finished.
near where the Vista Bridge
is now (45.51925°N 122.697973°W), Jefferson Street transitions into Canyon Road, both in street signs and modern maps. It went up the canyon behind the Vista Ridge Tunnels
where the Sunset Highway
—also known as U.S. Route 26—goes over Sylvan hill. Part way up the hill, the road in front of the Oregon Zoo
is named Canyon Road, so perhaps the road zigzagged to ascend the grade. Slightly west of Sylvan, an interchange with modern Canyon Road, also known as Oregon Route 8, continues southwest into Beaverton. At the junction with Hocken Road two blocks west of Cedar Hills Boulevard (45.488163°N 122.812858°W), the contemporary road name changes to Tualatin Valley Highway
("TV Highway"), though it is likely Canyon Road continued further west originally.
A plaque to commemorate the road was placed in the South Park Blocks
by the Lang Syne Society in 1991.
Road
A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places, which typically has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one, or sometimes two, roadways each with one or more lanes and also any...
connecting Beaverton
Beaverton, Oregon
Beaverton is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States, seven miles west of Portland in the Tualatin River Valley.As of the 2010 census, the population is 90,267. This makes it the second-largest city in the county and Oregon's sixth-largest city...
and Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It was the first road between the Tualatin Valley
Tualatin Valley
The Tualatin Valley is a farming and suburban region southwest of Portland, Oregon in the United States. The valley is formed by the meandering Tualatin River, a tributary of the Willamette River at the northwest corner of the Willamette Valley, east of the Northern Oregon Coast Range...
and Portland and contributed significantly to Portland becoming the area's major deep water port, and subsequent early growth of the city.
The total modern length is 6.5 miles (10.5 km).
The Great Plank Road
By 1851 a dirt road, which was often muddy, ran between Portland and the Tualatin Valley following the canyon of Tanner Creek on the east side of the Tualatin MountainsTualatin Mountains
The Tualatin Mountains are a range of hills on the western border of Multnomah County, Oregon, United States...
. A plank road
Plank road
A plank road or puncheon is a dirt path or road covered with a series of planks, similar to the wooden sidewalks one would see in a Western movie. Plank roads were very popular in Ontario, the U.S. Northeast and U.S. Midwest in the first half of the 19th century...
was suggested by Portland entrepreneur and proprietor Daniel H. Lownsdale
Daniel H. Lownsdale
Daniel Lownsdale was one of the founders of Portland, Oregon, United States.Coming from Kentucky sometime before 1845, Lownsdale established the first tannery near the current location of Jeld-Wen Field just west of downtown. He served as a member of the Provisional Legislature of Oregon in 1846...
as a means to transport abundant Tualatin Valley farm produce and grains to California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
-inflated markets in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
. Col. William Williams Chapman, another proprietor, expended time and expense providing the basics for fledgling Portland in an effort to counter competition by other upstart towns and Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
. He founded The Oregonian
The Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
, enlarged Portland's platt, improving the city's streets, and ushered construction of Canyon Road. Others already invested in the city contributed to help make Portland the prime seaport of the region, including persuading others to join them, removing river obstructions, and importing goods from Asia and beyond.
The Portland & Valley Plank Road Company was chartered in January 1851 by the territorial government
Oregon Territory
The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Originally claimed by several countries , the region was...
. Editor of the Weekly Oregonian
The Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
newspaper, Thomas J. Dryer
Thomas J. Dryer
Thomas Jefferson Dryer was a newspaper publisher, Freemason, mountain climber, and politician in the Western United States.He was born on January 10, 1808, in Ulster County, New York. Dryer founded the Weekly Oregonian, which has survived as the daily Oregonian, and served as its publisher...
, immediately invested $500 and promoted the project. Stephen Coffin and William W. Chapman
William W. Chapman
William Williams Chapman was an American politician and lawyer in Oregon and Iowa. He was born and raised in Virginia. He served as a United States Attorney in Iowa when it was part of the Michigan and Wisconsin territories, and then represented the Iowa Territory in the United States House of...
pledged $3000, with Daniel H. Lownsdale
Daniel H. Lownsdale
Daniel Lownsdale was one of the founders of Portland, Oregon, United States.Coming from Kentucky sometime before 1845, Lownsdale established the first tannery near the current location of Jeld-Wen Field just west of downtown. He served as a member of the Provisional Legislature of Oregon in 1846...
pledging $2000. Ultimately over $35,000 was pledged but not all was paid, with Coffin, Chapman and Lownsdale likely to have not paid in full.
Coffin gave the contract to a sawmill owned by himself and Simeon Reed, and the first plank was laid on September 27, 1851, leading to a large celebration. By November 1851, less than $3,000 in pledges had been collected, while $11,000 had been spent. The road had progressed fewer than three miles. The route, however, was excavated, following the canyon of Tanner Creek on the east side of the Tualatin Mountains
Tualatin Mountains
The Tualatin Mountains are a range of hills on the western border of Multnomah County, Oregon, United States...
.
By spring of 1852, just over $6,000 had been collected and $14,000 spent, leading to the replacement of management and directors. The project remained incomplete for three years until Supreme Court Justice Cyrus Olney
Cyrus Olney
Cyrus Olney was an American politician and lawyer in what would become the state of Oregon. He was the 6th Associate Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court serving while the region was still the Oregon Territory...
required subscribers to pay at least 80% of the pledged amount. Back wages were still owed by December 1855, leading Olney to demand full payment from subscribers and for county sheriffs to find delinquent subscribers.
On January 25, 1856, the territorial government hired a new company to complete the road, and the city's merchant leaders (including William S. Ladd
William S. Ladd
William Sargent Ladd was an American politician and businessman in Oregon. He twice served as Portland, Oregon’s mayor in the 1850s. A native of Vermont, he was a prominent figure in the early development of Portland, and co-founded the first bank in the state in 1859...
and Josiah Failing
Josiah Failing
Josiah Failing was a businessman and the fourth mayor of Portland, Oregon, United States. Born in New York, he moved to Portland when it was still a small town of a few hundred...
) raised $75,000 for the new Portland and Tualatin Plains Plank Road Company, finishing the road by the end of 1856. The road, though never completely planked, was favored by farmers of Polk
Polk County, Oregon
Polk County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. The county is named for James Knox Polk, the 11th president of the United States. In 2010, its population was 75,403. The seat of the county is Dallas....
, Yamhill
Yamhill County, Oregon
-National protected areas:*Siuslaw National Forest *Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge -Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 84,992 people, 28,732 households, and 21,376 families residing in the county. The population density was 119 people per square mile . There were 30,270...
, and Washington
Washington County, Oregon
- Major highways :* Interstate 5* Interstate 205* U.S. Route 26* Oregon Route 6* Oregon Route 8* Oregon Route 10* Oregon Route 47* Oregon Route 99W* Oregon Route 210* Oregon Route 217* Oregon Route 219-Demographics:...
counties since it saved between three and ten miles (16 km) travel to the next nearest ports at St. Johns and St. Helens
St. Helens, Oregon
St. Helens is the county seat of Columbia County, Oregon. It was founded by Captain H. M. Knighton, a native of New England, in 1845 as "Plymouth". The name was changed to St. Helens in the latter part of 1850 for its view of Mount St. Helens some away in Washington. The population was 10,019 at...
, but on a rough muddy road through deep woods. Harvey W. Scott
Harvey W. Scott
Harvey Whitefield Scott was an American pioneer, newspaper editor, and historian.Scott was born in on a farm in Illinois and migrated to Oregon with his family in 1852, settling in Yamhill County. He and his family moved near Olympia, Washington in 1853. At age 18, he fought in the American Indian...
said this new toll road
Toll road
A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
was still difficult for travel and the entrance was "almost inaccessible", but the road was finished.
Route
The historic route is almost completely paved over by modern roads. Beginning at Goose HollowGoose Hollow, Portland, Oregon
Goose Hollow is a neighborhood in southwest Portland, Oregon. It acquired its distinctive name through early residents’ practice of letting their geese run free near the wooded ravine in the Tualatin Mountains now known as the Tanner Creek Canyon and in the now infilled Tanner Creek Gulch...
near where the Vista Bridge
Vista Bridge
The Vista Bridge is an arch bridge for vehicles and pedestrians located in Portland, Oregon, United States. It connects the areas of King's Hill and Vista Ridge which are both in the Goose Hollow neighborhood...
is now (45.51925°N 122.697973°W), Jefferson Street transitions into Canyon Road, both in street signs and modern maps. It went up the canyon behind the Vista Ridge Tunnels
Vista Ridge Tunnels
The Vista Ridge Tunnels are highway tunnels through the Tualatin Mountains of Portland, Oregon, USA through a hillside locally known as Vista Ridge which is a half mile west of downtown Portland. Sunset Highway, also known as U.S. Route 26, is carried through the tunnels, three lanes in each...
where the Sunset Highway
Sunset Highway (Oregon)
The Sunset Highway No. 47 , in the state of Oregon, is an official designation for the portion of U.S. Route 26 between its western terminus, south of Seaside, and the interchange with Interstate 405 in downtown Portland...
—also known as U.S. Route 26—goes over Sylvan hill. Part way up the hill, the road in front of the Oregon Zoo
Oregon Zoo
The Oregon Zoo, formerly the Washington Park Zoo, is a zoo in Portland, the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Located southwest of Downtown Portland, the zoo is inside Portland's Washington Park, and includes a narrow-gauge railway that connects to the International Rose Test Garden inside...
is named Canyon Road, so perhaps the road zigzagged to ascend the grade. Slightly west of Sylvan, an interchange with modern Canyon Road, also known as Oregon Route 8, continues southwest into Beaverton. At the junction with Hocken Road two blocks west of Cedar Hills Boulevard (45.488163°N 122.812858°W), the contemporary road name changes to Tualatin Valley Highway
Tualatin Valley Highway
The Tualatin Valley Highway No. 29 is an Oregon highway which passes through the Tualatin Valley, between the cities of McMinnville and Beaverton...
("TV Highway"), though it is likely Canyon Road continued further west originally.
A plaque to commemorate the road was placed in the South Park Blocks
South Park Blocks
The South Park Blocks form a city park in downtown Portland, Oregon. The Oregonian has called it Portland's "extended family room", as Pioneer Courthouse Square is known as Portland's "living room"....
by the Lang Syne Society in 1991.