Marker Name: Ben Jones - Father of Oregon’s Coast Highway
Marker Text: As Oregon entered the 20th century, travel along the coast was a combination of Indian trails, the beach, and a few very muddy roads. In 1892, Ben Jones led a delegation to Corvallis to seek money for road improvements from the County. The county questioned why “a bunch of clam diggers” needed a road, and Jones replied, “With the cooperation . . . of the clam diggers, we are going to create a new county.” A year later, the western portion of Benton County seceded to form Lincoln County -- road improvements were soon underway.
With the approach of World War I, Oregon’s coast was deemed among the weakest links in national defense. Jones, a state legislator at the time, capitalized on this weakness by championing a coast highway as a strategic investment. Funding was granted in 1919 and construction began immediately. By 1931, the Roosevelt Military Highway traveled the entire length of Oregon’s coast, but it wasn’t until 1937 that all the coastal bridges were completed. Today, this road is called US Highway 101 and is the Pacific Coast National Scenic Byway.
Early roads were always muddy, but in the winter they became treacherous quagmires. Pioneers combated the mud by building “corduroy roads” of planks or logs placed in the roadbed -- it was a firm road but a rough ride!
Ben Jones, who once delivered mail between Corvallis and Newport, was sympathetic to the mailman’s plight. Mail contractors drove wagons along the beach facing high tides, rogue waves, and steep headlands.
To dramatize the need for better roads on the coast in 1912, local road boosters drove a Studebaker dubbed “The Pathfinder,” 46 miles from Newport to Siletz Bay. The journey took 22 hours and 14 minutes, at one point they resorted to using a team of horses to pull them from the mud.
The early beginnings of the highway were an incredible improvement for traveling along the coast, but they bore little resemblance to the smooth ride that we take for granted today.
Visit Instructions:
Include your thoughts and observations pertaining to this location and your visit. Provide any additional history that you are aware of that pertains to this location. If the marker commemorates a historic building tell us what it is used for now or share with us the circumstances of an earlier visit to bring this locations history to life.
Please upload a favorite photograph you took of the waymark. Although visiting this waymark in person is the only thing required of you to receive credit for your visit, taking the time to add this information is greatly appreciated.
Be creative.