Santiam Wagon Road

The board says much of the grant reverted to the state; it did not. The company built little east of the Cascades, but Oregon's governors certified the road on reports from inspectors the company paid, and patents followed, taking in odd-numbered sections that homesteaders around Prineville had already farmed. The company offered to sell those families their land at several times the homestead price. The Interior Department sued in 1889, but the land had been sold on, and the Supreme Court confirmed the company's title to the 861,512 acres. Only the stretch over the pass carried much traffic.

What the plaque says

Oregon History Santiam Wagon Road The pass located east of here through the Cascade Range was once called Wiley Pass after Andrew Wiley. Wiley with other Willamette Valley pioneers explored it in 1859 while searching for a route to move their livestock to the grass lands of central Oregon for summer grazing. In 1864 the Willamette Valley and Cascade Mountain Military Wagon Road Company was formed and submitted plans to the U.S. government for a military road to be built along the route as far east as the mouth of the Malheur River. The land grant of 1866 included 861,512 acres for the road builder. Little road was ever constructed and much of the land reverted to the state. In 1868 a wagon road was completed from the valley to near Sisters and became a toll road known as the Santiam Wagon Road.

Where it stands

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