Category:Springfield roads

From Lane Co Oregon

Transportation for the early period was dependent upon a primitive road system that connected the farmsteads with each other and with the “Road from Oregon City to the Mines,” a trail that dated to 1847. It was called the East Side Territorial Road and originally ran from Oregon City to Brownsville. It was extended southward through the Springfield area in 1851, and by 1853, it was connected with the Briggs Ferry on the Willamette River (Freeman 1979:58; Surveyor General’s Office 1853a, 1853b, 1855; Special Collections n.d.:Box 66/20, Folder 7A/B). From 1852 to 1853, a road that became known as the McKenzie Highway was completed as far as Canyon City in Eastern Oregon. It crossed the Thurston area as it traveled from Springfield through the Cascade Range. It was originally called Scott’s trail and operated as a toll road from 1872 to 1894. In 1894, the western portion of the route became a Lane County road (Corning 1956:161). Remnants of the pioneer road network survive today as Mills Street, Game Farm Road, High Banks Road, Thurston Road and parts of Jasper Road and the McKenzie Highway.

Personal tools