Crossing the Cascades on a Shoestring
A state commission pivots from building a failed mountain road to creating a simple pack-animal trail.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
In answer to an inquiry from a subscriber the Post-Intelligencer said a few days ago that the state road across the Cascades from this county could not be completed until after the legislature makes an additional appropriation. That is true as to a road passable for teams, but Commissioners Cryderman and Donovan, who have just returned from a meeting of the commission at Olympia, express the opinion that an excellent trail for horseback travel and for driving cattle can be completed with the funds still remaining. This amount will be between $7,400 and $7,600. Mr. Cryderman, now chairman of the commission, frankly admits that the affairs were badly managed and that some money was wasted. The plan is for the commission to meet at Marcus in May and come west as far as possible from the place where work was left off last fall. This year, the efforts of the commission will be directed solely to completing a trail suitable for pack animals and cattle.
“Mr. Cryderman, now chairman of the commission, frankly admits that the affairs were badly managed and that some money was wasted.”
The struggle to fund and build reliable transit across the Cascades is a perennial Seattle civic challenge. The 'reckless management' of early road commissions reminds us that infrastructure projects have been sites of bureaucratic controversy since the state's founding.
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