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BEACON ROCK CLIMBING PATHWAY
FROM THE COLUMBIA RIVER website:
"The first recorded owner of Beacon Rock was Phillip Ritz, a pioneer who came to Oregon in 1850. He sold it in 1870 to a Philadelphia banker named Jay Cooke, a backer of the Northern Pacific Railroad, who sold it to Charles Ladd in 1904. Ladd sold the rock to Henry J. Biddle in 1915 on the condition that the rock be preserved. Biddle's sole reason for buying the rock was to build a trail to its summit; he was attracted by the idea of building a trail "in perhaps the most difficult location in which a trail had ever been built". Biddle's trail would not result in the first climb to the summit, however. That honor went to Frank J. Smith and Charles Church of Portland, and George Purser of White Salmon, in 1901. In late 1915 Biddle hired Charles "Tin Can" Johnson, who had previously been employed as a construction foreman on Highway 30 (Columbia River Highway), to build the trail to the top of the rock. It was completed in April 1918, extending a length of 4,500 feet from the North Bank Highway (now Highway 14) to the top of the rock. The trail was 4 feet wide, with a maximum grade of 15 percent, and included fifty-two hair-pin turns and twenty-two wooden bridges (the bridges were later replaced with steel). After the trail was complete, Biddle maintained it for public use, without charge."
Source: K.G. Hay, 2004, The Lewis and Clark Columbia River Water Trail, Timber Press, Portland.
BEACON ROCK CLIMBING PATHWAY
FROM THE COLUMBIA RIVER website:
"The first recorded owner of Beacon Rock was Phillip Ritz, a pioneer who came to Oregon in 1850. He sold it in 1870 to a Philadelphia banker named Jay Cooke, a backer of the Northern Pacific Railroad, who sold it to Charles Ladd in 1904. Ladd sold the rock to Henry J. Biddle in 1915 on the condition that the rock be preserved. Biddle's sole reason for buying the rock was to build a trail to its summit; he was attracted by the idea of building a trail "in perhaps the most difficult location in which a trail had ever been built". Biddle's trail would not result in the first climb to the summit, however. That honor went to Frank J. Smith and Charles Church of Portland, and George Purser of White Salmon, in 1901. In late 1915 Biddle hired Charles "Tin Can" Johnson, who had previously been employed as a construction foreman on Highway 30 (Columbia River Highway), to build the trail to the top of the rock. It was completed in April 1918, extending a length of 4,500 feet from the North Bank Highway (now Highway 14) to the top of the rock. The trail was 4 feet wide, with a maximum grade of 15 percent, and included fifty-two hair-pin turns and twenty-two wooden bridges (the bridges were later replaced with steel). After the trail was complete, Biddle maintained it for public use, without charge."
Source: K.G. Hay, 2004, The Lewis and Clark Columbia River Water Trail, Timber Press, Portland.