North Cascades

EARLY IMPRESSIONS: EURO-AMERICAN EXPLORATIONS AND SURVEYS

ROAD-BUILDING SURVEYS IN THE NORTH CASCADES

The last major expeditions to enter the North Cascades in the nineteenth century were parties of surveyors in search of a route for a "Cascade State Wagon Road." During 1893 and 1895 survey teams authorized by the state government made no less than six attempts to locate such a route. The intent was to link the eastern and western portions of the state, thus enhancing economic growth and development:

Aside from the advantage to cattlemen and to the general traveling public in having a road across the Cascade Mountains, it is of the greatest interest to miners. [110]

Taken as a whole the State Road will be of great advantage not only to the cattle, farming and mining industries but it will be of great value also to the state at large as a continuous highway for the movement of troops in case of necessity, and particularly in the protection of the northern frontier. [111]

One of the last attempts to locate a route through the North Cascades was actually a railroad survey conducted in 1900 led by J.J. Cryderman. Despite Cryderman's efforts no railroad line was built.

By the beginning of the twentieth century the North Cascades had been explored from north to south and east to west. The land that is today a national park was no longer a mysterious wilderness of rocks, forests, waterfalls, and glaciers. Maps and first-hand accounts had been published, exposing the territory to the general public. Miners and settlers had long since arrived, struggling to make a living from the rugged land. In the next chapter we'll discuss the settlers who came to make the North Cascades their home.

Road-Building Surveys in the Park

• Austin/Lyle
• Road Commissioners
• Cryderman