Quite a pristine setting with what would have been a beautiful view of the Columbia and across.

Charlott on 14th January 2019 @ 7:13am

Obvious why the RR had to tunnel through rather than go around Cape Horn in 1908.
The views from the WA side help me admire and appreciate more the OR topography.

Kenn on 14th January 2019 @ 8:35am

Probably the Stevenson homestead. Not the same family that the town of Stevenson is named for. The fruit trees already have some size to them.

http://www.columbiagorge.org/wp-content/uploads/docs/Stevenson,_John_W.,_Pioneer_of_Cape_Horn.pdf

L.E. on 14th January 2019 @ 9:11am

I wonder how these folks felt when the railroad came through. They got easier access to the world, but they lost their solitude.

I should have pointed out this picture was glued into a Samuel Blythe scrapbook.

Arthur on 14th January 2019 @ 10:49am

I spy a chicken shed and another structure with a varied wood shingle roof line - perhaps a larger secondary residence ?

Stever on 14th January 2019 @ 3:47pm

This is probably the farm that was partially wiped out during the blasting mistake while putting in the new highway in 1930.

L.E. on 15th January 2019 @ 8:35am

The original Stevenson homestead was much higher up on the hill and I always wondered why. The link I posted previously says it was because John Stevenson left Indiana to escape the ague, (swamp fever) and he built their first home at Cape Horn 1,000 feet above the river to get away from swamp air.
I just finished a book, "Seven Months to Oregon: 1853", which is the diaries and memories of the Hines family traveling to Oregon. The ague is mentioned, which seemed to debilitate a person for several days. They also mention driving their cattle through this area and up over Cape Horn to the Washougal bottom ground. It was a miserable, brushy route that they couldn't ride their horses through. They turned the horses loose and drove them with the cattle.

L.E. on 15th January 2019 @ 8:49am

Terrific photo. Kenn, thanks for the link also. Does anyone have more information and / or photos about Cape Horn and Cape Horn Landing? I'd love to be contacted if you do!
Darren

Darren Gillette on 15th January 2019 @ 11:33am