Wamic, Oregon

Wamic, Oregon

The unincorporated community of Wamic is located in west-central Wasco County, east of Tygh Valley on Highway 48. Follow the Wamic Market Road for 8 miles as it rises steadily to the hilltop out of Tygh Valley. Wamic is located on the route of the Barlow Road, which at one time offered the only overland route across the Cascade Mountains for westbound pioneers following the Oregon Trail. There's an historic museum in Wamic, housed in the former Smock Prairie Schoolhouse.

Sites of Interest

Rock Creek Reservoir & Campground

Rock Creek Campground is located along the shores of Rock Creek Reservoir, in the Mount Hood National Forest in Tygh Valley at a 4600 foot elevation. Ponderosa Pine and Oak trees surround the lake. There is fishing and canoeing in the reservoir and it's regularly stocked with rainbow trout. Gas motors are not allowed in the reservoir. The reservoir is regularly stocked with rainbow trout and "brood fish". The Rock Creek Reservoir campground provides 33 campsites and a specially designated "fitness trail." A day use picnic area will accommodate up to 65 people. Facilities include wheelchair access to toilets, fishing ramp, drinking water, fireplaces, garbage cans and vault toilets. Reservations must be made at least 4 days in advance.

You'll also find the Pine Hollow Reservoir nearby, offering more opportunities for fishing and boating.

Pine Hollow Airport

Barlow Road Rendezvous

Wamic is the gateway to the historic Barlow Trail. The community holds an annual Labor Day weekend celebration, Barlow Road Rendezvous. Annual activities include a community wide potluck picnic, parade, and the Outhouse Races. Fun for the whole family.

Wamic Community Website

History

Smock Prairie Schoolhouse museum

The name of Wamic came from some of the first settlers, brothers Asa, and Levi Womack and their nephew Crawford. A statement from Pierce Mays, a prominent resitent of Wasco County is recorded in the Oregon Historical Society archives. Mays relates that these three men had a remarkable plan of allowing each of the three in turn to determine what all should do during his day of leadership. Thus, on Monday all worked in the blacksmith shop under the leadership of Asa. Levi was more socially inclinded and on Tuesday all three sat in front of the shop and "chewed the rag and whittled." Crawford was the Nimrod of the family, and on Wednesday the three went hunting or fishing. Thursday began the cycle anew. *

The old schoolhouse from nearby Smock Prairie was moved to Wamic, and now serves as a museum. It served as a school from 1906 to 1956.

The community's first post office was established as Prattvilles on Nov. 24, 1879, in honor of Jason Cushio Duncan Pratt, the first permanent settler of the area. The Prattsville post office closed Sept. 11, 1880, and for four years Wamic residents received their mail from Tygh Valley. They were listed as Tygh residents in The Dalles directory and assessor records of 1883 and 1884.#

Historical accounts agree that the Wamic post office was established November 25, 1884. Different sources cite the name of the first postmaster, as either James W. Sanford or Mary Anna Chamberland. Records of by Edwin R. Payne, Salem, Oregon post office clerk, states the first Wamic postmaster as Mary Chamberlain. Wamic post office was closed June 1, 1958. * #

In the laste 1800s, the requirement to establish a school was a minimum of five children. In order to meet requirements, the residents counted a four-year-old younger brother of one student, to meet the five student requirement.

Following the opening of the Barlow Road in 1846, which provided an alternative to shooting the rapids on the Columbia River, a cutoff to the Barlow Road came into use. The Cutoff to the Barlow Road saved emigrants as much as a week of travel time. **

Previously, emigrants traveled to The Dalles, then followed an ancient Indian trail south from The Dalles to Tygh Valley. In Tygh Valley, emigrants caught the Barlow Road and followed it over the Cascades to Oregon City. Oregon Trail emigrant and diarist Riley Root first mentions Cutoff in 1848, by which time it was apparently already well established. In the years that followed, the Cutoff was used extensively by Oregon trail emigrants. **

Barlow Road Toll Gate sign

Barlow Road

The Barlow Road was named for Samuel Kimbrough Barlow, a pioneer of 1845 who developed the first man-made road in the state of Oregon. For a description of the difficulties the Barlows had getting over the Cascade Range on what was later the Barlow Road, see Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol. 13, p. 240. In the fall of 1845, Joel Palmer was with the Barlow party after they left The Dalles. Palmer was instrumental in locating Barlow Pass and the way around Mount Hood. See Palmer's Journal of Travels over the Rocky Mountains, pp. 62-83. For a history of the road itself, se OHQ, V. 13, p. 287. For story about the road and a map, see Sunday Oregonian, magazine section, May 29, 1938. Barlow started the work when he came over with the Oregon Trail emigration and finished it the following year. From the summit of the Cascade Range westward to Sandy, the Mount Hood Loop Highway is in substantially the same location as the Barlow Road, though modern engineering has solved some of Samuel K. Barlow's greatest difficulties. East of the summit the Barlow Road has been in disuse for many years for a considerable distance down the eastern slope, especially where it traversed the canyon of Whtie River. Tthe Oak Grove Road from Salmon River Meadows to Wapinitia was not a part of the original Barlow Road though it was frequently spoken of as such. On July 27, 1925, a memorial tablet was dedicated to Samuel Kimbrough Barlow at a point on the Mount Hood Loop Highway just east of Government Camp. This tablet, which is on a large boulder, was unveiled in 1923. It could not be put in place then owing to difficulties over the title to the site. On the same boulder is another tablet dedicated to Susannah Lee Barlow, wife of S.K. Barlow. Samuel K. Barlow was born in Nicholas County, Kentucky, on January 24, 1792. He died at Canemah, Oregon, July 14, 1867, and is buried beside his wife at Barlow.*

In 1846, Provisional Legislature authorized Sam K. Barlow to construct a toll road over the Cascade Mountains south of Mt. Hood to Oregon City. With a $4000 loan from Philip Foster, Sam Barlow hired 40 men to construct the road. The road was ready for the late summer travel season and tolls ($5 per wagon and 10 cent per livestock head) would repay the investment. Foster, who kept meticulous records, recorded 152 wagons on the Barlow Road in this first year, 1846. (Barlow and his sons William and James collected the tolls at the gate at Strickland Farm near Gate Creek during 1846 and 1847, near present-day Wamic; half the proceeds went to Foster to repay the loan). Rueben Gant was the first to drive a wagon on the new Barlow Road from (the now abandoned) Ft. Deposit to Oregon City as the route became open in July. The road would officially open-- and begin collecting tolls-- in September, the main Oregon Trail travel season. By October, about 145 wagons passed that way with 7 arriving later. ##

The dangers to the Oregon Trail emigrants of rafting their families down the Columbia were greater than those crossing the Cascades. The ability to take their wagons, families and stock all together, on to the valley, was the greatest inducement for the building of the road. The establishment of the Barlow Road has been credited to Joel Palmer, Samuel K. Barlow and Phillip Foster, but the assistance of some 50 other pioneer roadbuilders should be recognized as well. Jason Cushion Duncan Pratt's great efforts in helping emigrants up to Wamic for their start over the mountains was instrumental in their success. Robert R. Mays enlargement of the bridge at Sherars, from a foot and pack horse bridge to a wagon bridge, saved emigrants the 100 miles of extra driving into The Dalles and back to Tygh. Mays was also responsible for improvements to the Tygh grade. Joseph Henry Sherar of Tygh and Sherars Bridge, made a better bridge, improved the toll roads at his expense, benefitting the people of of southern, and eastern Wasco county. ###

An old hand-carved wooden sign at the edge of Wamic commemorates one of the first tollgates on the Barlow Road. The tollgates for the Barlow Road moved many times over the years, especially when emigrants found ways around the tollgate. Directions: Continue on the highway to Wamic, approximately 6 miles.) Pull over and read the Heritage sign in Wamic, just past the store and across the road from the old school.***

In 1882, operation of the Barlow Road transfered to the Mt.Hood & Barlow Road Company. By this time, however, a railroad ran the length of the Columbia River providing a much more convenient route; the old road at the end of the Oregon Trail deteriorated until 1915 and the beginning of Oregon's automobile age.##

Sources:

* Oregon Geographic Names, Lewis A. McArthur & Lewis L. McArthur
** Wamic Community website
***Finding the Trail in Oregon, a guide to sites, museums and ruts on the Oregon Trail, Keith F. May.
# History of Wasco County, Daniel Spatz and Rodger Nichols
##Clackamas County History 1844 to 1848
### History of Wasco County Post Offices, Jeffery Elmer