Soap Creek Valley · 1989 Auto Tour

STOP #2 SMITH PEAK [Trails]

Stop 2 of the 1989 Historic Soap Creek Valley Auto Tour, printed page 9.

13.3 miles from the Peavy Arboretum entrance on the 1989 route. Open these pages in the original PDF · Read the text below

Original illustrated spread for STOP #2 SMITH PEAK [Trails], printed pages 8–9. The transcribed text and picture captions follow below. — Bob Zybach, *Historic Soap Creek Valley Auto Tour* (1989), pp. 8–9. Enlarge the pages.

The text, as printed

p. 9

By facing to the east from this stop, you can see the crest of the hill called "Smith Peak" by the government land surveyor in 1853. Called "Smith Hill" today and "Oak Hill" at other times, this early barrier to north-south wagon traffic was known to local farmers for its nests of rattlesnakes and patches of poison oak. In the fall of 1826, while David Douglas and HBC brigade leader Alexander McLeod were blazing the first horse trail from the Columbia River to southwest Oregon, Kalapuyans were burning most of the prairies throughout the Willamette Valley. The road builders were forced to follow these coastal hills to the west in order to find both forage for their animals as well as food for themselves. By 1841, a United States Exploring Expedition under the direction of Lieutenant Charles Wilkes was able to follow the well-established "California Trail" from Oregon City to San Francisco. Five years later, in 1846, when Jesse Applegate, Moses "Black" Harris, Levi Scott and a dozen other men were establishing the "Applegate Trail" for American pioneers, they followed the same course taken by Douglas and the Wilkes Expedition. But in addition to necessary food and forage, these men also had to consider the traversing of streams, muddy bogs, and steep hillsides with metal-wheeled wagons. The Gold Rush to California in 1848 further defined the route for the stage coaches and produce wagons of the 1850's. Today, over 160 years later, we are still following almost exactly the same road that was first pioneered by a Scottish botanist and a beaver hunter.

Find this stop and nearby places on the map

Locations are approximate; the booklet describes 1989 conditions.

Tour stop
Other place named

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On this map

Auto Tour stops(1)

STOP #2 SMITH PEAK [Trails]Trails

Ridges, peaks and buttes(1)

Smith PeakNamed at this stop

Streams(1)

Columbia RiverNamed at this stop

Valleys(1)

Willamette ValleyNamed at this stop

city(2)

Oregon CityNamed at this stop
San FranciscoNamed at this stop

hill(1)

Oak HillNamed at this stop

Named at this stop

Places. Smith Peak · Smith Hill · Oak Hill · Columbia River · southwest Oregon · Willamette Valley · Oregon City · San Francisco · California

People. David Douglas · Alexander McLeod · Charles Wilkes · Jesse Applegate · Moses "Black" Harris · Levi Scott

Narrators who speak of this place

Pages recorded in the collection index where a narrator names one of the places this stop stands on. Each number opens that page of the transcript.

#1 Lorna Grabe Narrator: Lorna Grabe p. 58
#2 Paul M. Dunn Narrator: Paul M. Dunn p. 5, p. 7, p. 8, p. 15, p. 32
#3 Donald Dickey Narrator: Donald M. Dickey and Maxine Dickey p. 3, p. 4, p. 45, p. 46, p. 41, p. 31
#4 Edward Sekermestrovich Narrator: Edward Sekermestrovich p. 14, p. 31
#5 John Jacob & Wilma Rohner Narrator: John Jacob "Jake" Rohner and Wilma "Willie" Rohner p. 58, p. 76, p. 98, p. 76, p. 6, p. 8, p. 44
#6 James Hanish Narrator: James Hanish p. 5, p. 10, p. 16, p. 21, p. 65, p. 74, p. 75, p. 76, p. 1, p. 3, p. 6, p. 12, p. 21, p. 22, p. 29, p. 30, p. 30
#7 Charlie Olson Narrator: Charlie Olson and Mrs. Olson p. 153, p. 169, p. 123, p. 125, p. 128, p. 22
#8 Neil Vanderburg Narrator: Neil Elton Vanderburg p. 18, p. 30, p. 38, p. 72, p. 85, p. 89, p. 104, p. 29, p. 38, p. 64, p. 77, p. 85
#9 Eugene Glender Narrator: Eugene Glender p. 5, p. 20, p. 83, p. 99, p. 102, p. 16, p. 101, p. 109
#10 Velma Carter Rawie Narrator: Velma Carter Rawie p. 30, p. 90, p. 91, p. 104, p. 111, p. 97, p. 98, p. 115
#11 Bessie Murphy Narrator: Bessie Murphy p. 58, p. 70, p. 25, p. 93, p. 94
#12 Wanda Marcks Cook Narrator: Wanda Marcks Cook, Roy Cook, and Evelyn Weigel p. 3, p. 17, p. 29, p. 44, p. 47
#13 WILLIAM A. DAVIES Narrator: William A. Davies p. 7, p. 41, p. 73
#15 Marvin Rowley Narrator: Marvin Rowley p. 7, p. 30, p. 36, p. 90, p. 9, p. 81

Photographs printed with this stop

After first surviving buffalo stampedes, disease and hostile Indian attacks, Oregon Trail pioneers were faced with the difficult and deadly Columbia River "Cascades" near The Dalles. Construction of the Applegate and Barlow Trails during 1845 and 1846 avoided these dangerous rapids and provided American emigrants with a safer and cheaper passage to their new homes in the Willamette Valley. This stop is along an 1853 stretch of the "Applegate Trail" that connected "rainy season" crossings of Berry and Soap Creeks. Printed page 8

Citation and source history

Collection source history · The complete booklet and its credits

How to cite this item

The first line is the citation as it is printed in the original. Use it when you cite the work itself. Use the second when you cite this page.

As printed: Zybach, Bob 1989. Historic Soap Creek Valley Auto Tour. Oregon State University Research Forests and College of Forestry, Corvallis, Oregon: 32 pp.
This page: Zybach 1989. America's School Trust Library, The Zybach Collection. https://schooltrusts.org/collections/zybach/soap-creek/auto-tour/stop-2/
Permalink: https://schooltrusts.org/collections/zybach/soap-creek/auto-tour/stop-2/
Original PDF: http://www.nwmapsco.com/ZybachB/Tours/Soap_Creek_Valley/Zybach_1989.pdf

More on citing this collection: How to cite the Zybach Collection.

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