Opening Up The Blue Mountains - Oregon Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

One of five history signs along The Stump Dodger Trail near Dixie Summit on U.S. Hwy. 26.

Marker Name: Opening Up The Blue Mountains
Marker Text: The first white settlers traveled through the Blue Mountains in the 1840s in wagons on the Oregon Trail. Few stayed, however, as their destination was the lush Willamette Valley. The discovery of gold in the early 1860s led to a gold rush throughout eastern Oregon, but the miners seldom stayed after the gold played out.
The coming of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Co. (now the Union Pacific Railroad) to Baker CIty in 1884 opened up trade with the rest of the nation. Transportation into the mountains was by stagecoach and freight wagon, until the vast stands of ponderosa pine attracted the lumberman’s attention. They proposed building a railroad into the forest to haul the logs to a sawmill in Baker City. Because of the rugged terrain, narrow gauge tracks (rails 3’ apart) was used rather than the standard4’ 8-1/2”. Narrow gauge track allowed the grade to be built on narrower cuts and fills and around sharper curves which saved construction costs. Equipment was acquired secondhand from a number of other narrow gauge lines throughout the west and added to the colorful character of the line.

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