th their leaders
and guides on horseback, eventually fashioned a main route of travel from the lower Missouri River to the Willamette Valley. In its far western course this route traversed the northeastern corner of what is now the State of Oregon, entering from the valley of the Snake River near the latter's confluence with the Malheur, and continuing past the sites of Baker, La Grande, and Pendleton to the junction of the Walla Walla River with the Columbia. This latter point was the end of the original Oregon Trail, the rest of the journey being accomplished by boat and portage down the Columbia. But in 1843 a roadway was broken along the south bank of that river as far west as The Dalles; and in the following year a route came into use from the site of La Grande over the Blue Mountains to the Umatilla, along the latter to the Columbia, and thence to The Dalles. From this point westward, the river provided the only means of transportation until 1845, when Samuel Barlow and Philip Foster cut a crude wagon road through the forests and over the precipitous slopes south of Mount Hood to Willamette Falls at the site of Oregon City. In 1846 they improved the grades and secured a toll franchise. Travelers using this road of 85 miles in length paid tolls of $5 a wagon and $i for each head of livestock. Today part of the course is followed by the Mount Hood Loop Highway.
A second road, completed in 1846, led into the Willamette region by way of the Malheur River valley and the Klamath country, thence through the mountains and northward to the upper Willamette. By this time relatively short stretches of primitive road had been constructed between various adjacent settlements not connected by waterways. Some of these were community affairs, built by the settlers to provide means of local intercourse; others were commercial enterprises, operating under toll franchise. By 1846 there was a wagon road from Portland to the fertile Tualatin Plains. Many of the early roads led to river landings where boat service was available. Bridges, too, began to be built. On May 8, 1850, according to a local record, "the court proceeded to let by public outcry the bridge across the river near Hillsborough immediately below the forks of Dary and McKays creek where the former Frame bridge stood"; and another bridge was built across the Yamhill River, at the site of Lafayette, in 1851.
Popular demands for adequate mail service hastened the transformation of trails into vehicular roadways. A stagecoach line began operations in 1851 up and down the Willamette Valley and to points in southern Oregon; this line was taken over by the Wells Fargo company four years later. In 1857 a Concord coach made the run of about 50 miles
