The Thomas and Ruckle Road, also known as Ruckles Road or Ruckels Road, was a wagon road over the Blue Mountains

Blue Mountains (Oregon)

The Blue Mountains are a mountain range in the western United States, located largely in northeastern Oregon and stretching into southeastern Washington...

.

George Thomas was a stagecoach

Stagecoach

A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...

 driver who came west to California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 in 1849, before moving to Walla Walla

Walla Walla, Washington

Walla Walla is the largest city in and the county seat of Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. The population was 31,731 at the 2010 census...

. Colonel J. S. Ruckle arrived in Oregon in 1855 as a steam boat pilot for the Oregon Steam Navigation Company

Oregon Steam Navigation Company

The Oregon Steam Navigation Company was an American company incorporated in 1860 in Washington with partners J. S. Ruckle, Henry Olmstead, and J. O. Van Bergen...

 (OSN) along the Columbia River

Columbia River

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...

. Eventually Ruckle left the OSN and ran his own boat along the river. The two men planned and built the road in 1864 and 1865, as well as a stage line from Walla Walla to the Idaho Mines. The road ran from the northwest to the southeast, offering a more direct connection to Walla Walla, despite being longer than the Meacham Road.

The Ruckle Road, as well as others over the Blues, charged $3 to $5 per wagon. Several towns were plat

Plat

A plat in the U.S. is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. Other English-speaking countries generally call such documents a cadastral map or plan....

ted along the road: Summerville

Summerville, Oregon

Summerville is a city in Union County, Oregon, United States. The population was 117 at the 2000 census.-History:Summerville was platted on September 20, 1873 along Ruckles Road by William H. Patten. Patten had a freight depot along Ruckles Road, only the second road over the Blue Mountains, which...

 in 1873, and Cove

Cove, Oregon

Cove is a city in Union County, Oregon, United States. The population was 594 at the 2000 census.-History:Cove was platted in the 1870s along Ruckles Road, only the second road over the Blue Mountains.-Geography:...

 sometime in the 1870s. Mail was delivered over the road, causing it to bypass La Grande

La Grande, Oregon

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 12,327 people, 5,124 households, and 2,982 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,833.5 people per square mile . There were 5,483 housing units at an average density of 1,260.3 per square mile...

 in favor of Union

Union, Oregon

Union is a city in Union County, Oregon, United States. The population was 1,926 at the 2000 census.- History :Union was platted on November 11, 1864 along the Oregon Trail. The name references the Union states, or Northern States, of the American Civil War....

 and Summerville, helping Union become elected as the county seat

County seat

A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

in 1872.

The road washed out in 1886 and was never rebuilt.