Columbia River Highway at Rowena Hill, OR, 1922

About this postcard

The Columbia River Highway winds along a steep cliff at Rowena Hill, with a stone guard wall following the curve of the dirt road. A touring car is parked on the roadway, and the Columbia River, islands, and hills fill the distance below. The highway was built through the Columbia River Gorge in the 1910s and early 1920s as one of the country's first scenic motor roads. Its engineers used curving grades and masonry walls to carry drivers through the gorge, and the Rowena Hill section became known for its loops above the river. The card catches the road in the early age of automobile touring, when a drive along the Columbia was an attraction in itself.