Lancaster's Maryhill Roads

Page Index

• Lancaster's Maryhill Road - Canyon Road Segment

• Lancaster's Maryhill Road - Loops Road Segment

• Lancaster's Maryhill Road - Highway 97 Overlook

Wikipedia: Maryhill Loops Road

The Maryhill Loops Road was an experimental road in south central Washington, United States, built by Good Roads promoter Samuel Hill with the help of engineer and landscape architect Samuel C. Lancaster. Climbing the Columbia Hills from the Columbia River and Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway to his planned Quaker utopian community at Maryhill, Washington. Built in 1911 as the first asphalt road in the state, and bypassed by the present U.S. Route 97 after World War II, the road achieved low grades with horseshoe curves. The design became the model for the Figure-Eight Loops on the Historic Columbia River Highway in Oregon, designed by Lancaster several years later. The road is now owned by the Maryhill Museum of Art.

The road is closed to public motor vehicle traffic but is open to pedestrians and bicycles. The Maryhill Museum of Art rents use of the road for private events by automobile, motorcycle, bicycling, and longboarding clubs. The yearly International Downhill Federation World Cup Series downhill longboarding and street luge event is held there.

Scott Cook, Curious Gorge

In Feb 1913, at Hill's own expense, he brought the entire Oregon Legislature -- 88 men -- out to his Maryhill ranch for a gala event. At this gathering Hill showed-off the experimental roads that he had been building on his ranch with his personally contracted road engineer, Sam Lancaster.

Together they displayed state-of-the-art grading and paving techniques used to construct the "Maryhill Loops." Hill's tenacious boosterism succeeded. Soon thereafter the legislature approved funding for the Columbia River Highway and hired Sam Lancaster to design the project.

MaryhillMuseum.org: Historic Maryhill Loops Road

...the historic Maryhill Loops Road was the first macadam asphalt-paved road in the Pacific Northwest. Prior to the construction of US 97, it served as the only road between the Columbia River and Goldendale, Washington.

Historically, it was part of a larger road that encompassed several miles over which seven different experimental roads were constructed. It rises 850 feet in a series of 25 curves, eight of them hairpin turns, at a grade of 5%. In 1998, a 3.6 mile section of the road was completely refurbished and received the Outstanding Project of Historical Significance Award from the American Public Works Association, Washington State Chapter.

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