Chanticleer Point

Demands for a good road paralleling the Columbia River began with emigration along the rugged Oregon Trail in 1843, but Samuel Hill and the view from this bluff helped make the dream a reality. Hill, an eccentric and wealthy railroad attorney, was a passionate good roads enthusiast with a flair for publicity. On August 27, 1913, Hill and other advocates for a Columbia River Highway met with Multnomah County Commissioners at the Chanticleer Inn on this bluff. With the dramatic vista in the background, Hill and engineer Samuel C. Lancaster outlined a vision of a scenic highway where tired men and women might enjoy the wild beauty of nature's art gallery and recreate themselves. Construction surveys were under way within a month, and by the 1920s the Historic Columbia River Highway was called the king of roads.

Oregon · United States