Transcontinental Auto Race

The board names one driver for each car and misspells the second. Old Scout carried two men from Detroit, Dwight Huss and his mechanic and relief driver Milford Wigle, and Old Steady was driven by Percy F. Megargel, not McGargle, with Barton Stanchfield. Organizers had expected the run to take thirty days. Huss and Wigle reached Portland forty-four days out of New York and took the $1,000 prize; Old Steady arrived about a week later. In 1931, twenty-six years on, Huss drove Old Scout itself from New York to Portland again.

What the plaque says

Transcontinental Auto Race Dwight Huss, an automobile engineer from Detroit, made automotive history here June 20, 1905 when his car, "Old Scout", became the first car to cross the Cascade Mountains from east to west. Huss was competing in America's First Transcontinental Automobile Race against Percy McGargle, which departed New York City on May 8, 1905 in separate 7-Horsepower, 1904 Oldsmobile Curved-Dash Runabouts. "Old Scout" was also the fastest automobile to travel America from east to west, the first documented automobile to cross the Rockies from east to west, the first on the Oregon Trail, and the first to enter Portland on its own power from out-of-state on June 21, 1905 during opening day of the National Good Road Convention.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Santiam Wagon Road — steps away