Читать книгу Oregon, the Picturesque. A Book of Rambles in the Oregon Country and in the Wilds of Northern California онлайн

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The highways of Oregon present a still more serious question in that state than the one which California has to solve. With only one-fifth the population and with two-thirds the area of her neighbor, Oregon cannot undertake the vast road improvement plans that are being carried out south of her border. There is as yet little well-improved road in the state; a few pieces of macadam about Portland and down the Willamette Valley—much of it broken and rough—and the wonderful new Columbia River Highway comprising about all of it at this time. A number of the more prosperous counties, however, have voted bonds or are contemplating such a move, especially along the Pacific Highway, so that in the course of four or five years we may expect some appreciable results. But Oregon roads generally are desperately bad and are likely to remain so for some time. There will likely be much improvement in the way of grading and bridges, but surfacing after the splendid fashion of California is far off for the vast majority of Oregon highways. Multnomah County, in which is situated the city of Portland, has by far the greater mileage of surfaced highways and we found considerable road work in progress here. The first move toward a permanent system in this county was the issuance of two and a half millions in bonds, the proceeds of which were used to build the first fifty miles of the Columbia River Highway, and it is to be hoped that other counties will continue the good work until this wonderful road parallels the mighty river its entire length in the state.