Willows and the Haines Cutoff
Chet Smith, Baker City, Oregon
When I was really young, the present highway to Haines didn't exist. You drove
west out of town on Pocahontas Road to Wingville and on north coming into
Haines on the west side of the railroad tracks. That route avoided the swampy
middle of the valley. Then the state built the ³Haines Cutoff,² the more direct
route we have today.
Construction of the cutoff must have been a little before 1920, because the
gravel for the new road came from a gravel pit on 10th St., now the site of
Byron Henry's shop and lot west of Bulldog Stadium. I remember that right after
WW I barricades, posts, and barbed wire were set up around the gravel pit,
where an early model Army tank put on an exhibition showing the kind of
obstacle course it could maneuver through.
About 1920, either Lion's Club or Kiwanis Club drove willow posts at measured
intervals into the shoulders along both sides of the road. Since the area
between Pocahontas Road and Chandler Lane is pretty swampy, almost all of the
driven posts took root and grew rapidly. Soon they were growing out over the
road causing the highway department and the power company to spent a lot of
money keeping them trimmed.
It was never like driving through a tunnel, but there used to be a lot more
willow trees between Baker and Haines. We¹ve lost a lot to the highway
department, power company, dry rot, and accidents. I know of at least five
times when trees have been involved in fatal accidents. Very few have hit the
trees and walked away. One was a suicide ride.
The old gravel pit on 10th St. doesn¹t exist anymore. After WW II, local real
estate agent Al Ullman, who later was a Representative to Congress from Oregon,
acquired the gravel pit and filled it with sawdust from Tony Brandenthaler's
sawmill. The sawdust fill limits the size of structures that can be placed on
much of the lot.
Today the Haines cutoff is well-maintained asphalt with center and fog lines.
For the first ten years or more after the road was built, every spring it broke
up into huge frost heaves and became very difficult to travel. After spending
much money and materials, they finally got it stabilized. We used to ride bikes
to Radium on the new cutoff. I think the surface was oiled gravel. I don't
remember that it had any yellow center line.
