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Rare Fred Routledge pictorial map of the Columbia River Highway,  featured in the January 1, 1921, supplement to the Morning Oregonian.

The map, accompanied by a two-page newspaper spread on its verso, offers a detailed and artistic representation of the scenic highway that stretches from Pendleton, Oregon, through the Columbia River Gorge, and down to the Pacific Ocean near Astoria.

Beginning in 1915, Fred Routledge produced a number of different pictorial views centered on the promotion of the Columbia River and environs. It is noteworthy that several of Routledge’s pictorial maps published in the Morning Oregonian were closely associated with the “Good Roads Movement” of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among these was a double-page map from 1920 with the emphatic title stretched across both pages: “Oregon Takes Front Rank as State Wherein Good Roads Become Dominant and In Great Development Era, Millions Being Spent in Highway Construction.” The Good Roads initiative was also reflected in this eye-catching 1921 double-page “Pictorial Map of the Columbia River Highway from Pendleton to the Sea."

The map is richly illustrated with various vignettes showcasing significant landmarks, natural beauty, and notable points of interest along the route. These include the iconic Multnomah Falls, Vista House at Crown Point, and the dramatic cliffs and waterways that characterize the Columbia River Gorge. The detailed artwork highlights the road’s integration into the landscape, featuring winding paths through dense forests, over bridges, and alongside the river, capturing the grandeur and engineering feats of the highway, which was celebrated as an early 20th-century marvel of road construction.

Key features of the map include visual depictions of the roadway itself, labeled with distances and important markers such as Shepperd's Dell Bridge and the Descent from Rowena Bluffs. The map also depicts the surrounding terrain in an exaggerated relief style, emphasizing the mountainous and rugged nature of the region. Accompanying the map are several photographs that provide visual context and highlight the scenic vistas that travelers would experience along the route.

As noted by Clinton:

J.B. Harley observes: “Maps act as a visual metaphor for values enshrined in the places they represent.” Routledge’s 1921 “Pictorial Map of the Columbia River Highway from Pendleton to the Sea” is a case in point. In this 34-by-23-inch map, Routledge evokes, obliquely, the immigrant route west from Pendleton to the Columbia River, next the perilous trek along the river through the Columbia River Gorge and, ultimately, the arrival at Astoria and the Pacific Ocean. This route, aligned in great measure with the fabled Oregon Trail of the nineteenth century, had been utterly transformed for travelers of the twentieth century — clearly a key point Routledge wished to convey. His map unfolds a landscape of colossal grandeur and awesome beauty, as well as one of unimaginable obstacles to be encountered in newcomers’ journey west. Viewers are encouraged to conjure the realities of the nineteenth-century immigrants as well as those of the fortunate twentieth-century automotive tourists.

Balancing the austerity and formidable nature of the Columbia River route “from Pendleton to the Sea” is the “close-up” pictorial element intrinsic to the map’s design. In this instance, photographic images record the natural beauty of the terrain traversed — the waterfalls, the scenic vistas, the grandeur of the river — as well as images that document Routledge’s sense of the triumph of human perseverance in conquering the environment. In his map, Routledge combines an appreciation of the historical imperative — the dangers and life-threatening difficulties overcome by immigrant venturers — while celebrating the extraordinary achievements wrought by his contemporaries. The map, in this way, evokes the optimism of the West — the sense of endless possibilities for progress and life enrichment achievable through human perseverance and creativity. 

Rarity

The present view is among the earliest and rarest of Routledge's maps.  This is the first example we have seen on the market.