THE SANTIAM WAGON ROAD A – Presentation by Tony Farque

Local Archaeologist and historian Tony Farque will tell the story of the Santiam Wagon Road. Sponsored by the Lebanon Museum along with the library, the program is open to all and free of charge. Audience members are welcome to bring a lunch to eat as they listen.

The longtime archaeologist for the Sweet Home Ranger District, Tony Farque is beloved for his guided hikes and lively presentations on topics such as Cascadia Cave, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the history of the U.S. Forest Service in the Willamette National Forest. Farque spoke about the Kalapuya in the Lebanon Museum’s kickoff program in 2018.

The Santiam Wagon Road was created after Lebanon-area settlers, following Indian trails, discovered the Santiam Pass. Local ranchers formed a corporation to develop a toll road to carry their livestock to pastures across the Cascades. For more than 70 years, until Highway 20 was completed, the Santiam Wagon Road was the main means of transportation through the central Cascades. It carried not only flocks of sheep and herds of cattle but wagon trains full of wool, stagecoaches full of vacationers, and even automobiles—most famously in 1905, when one of the two competitors in a transcontinental race tied a log to his car to slow its descent down Seven-Mile Hill.

Farque’s presentation will be the first in the Lebanon Museum’s 2020 series of historical programs. Others will be announced through the year.