Geographic Names Information System
The Geographic Names Information System is a database that contains name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features located throughout the United States of America and its territories. It is a type of gazetteer. GNIS was developed by the United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the United States Board on Geographic Names to promote the standardization of feature names; the database is part of a system that includes bibliographic references. The names of books and historic maps that confirm the feature or place name are cited. Variant names, alternatives to official federal names for a feature, are recorded; each feature receives a permanent, unique feature record identifier, sometimes called the GNIS identifier. The database never removes an entry, "except in cases of obvious duplication." The GNIS accepts proposals for new or changed names for U. S. geographical features. The general public can make proposals at the GNIS web site and can review the justifications and supporters of the proposals.
The Bureau of the Census defines Census Designated Places as a subset of locations in the National Geographic Names Database. U. S. Postal Service Publication 28 gives standards for addressing mail. In this publication, the postal service defines two-letter state abbreviations, street identifiers such as boulevard and street, secondary identifiers such as suite. Canadian Geographical Names Data Base, a similar, but non-public-domain, database for locations within Canada only GEOnet Names Server, a similar database for locations outside the United States United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names U. S. Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey, National Mapping Division, Digital Gazeteer: Users Manual. Least Heat Moon, Blue Highways: A Journey Into America. ISBN 0-316-35329-9 Jouris, All Over The Map, ISBN 0-89815-649-1 Report: "Countries, Areas of Special Sovereignty, Their Principal Administrative Divisions," Federal Information Processing Standards, FIPS 10-4.
Standard was withdrawn in September 2008, See Federal Register Notice: Vol. 73, No. 170, page 51276 Report: "Principles and Procedures: Domestic Geographic Names," U. S. Board on Geographic Names, 1997. U. S. Postal Service Publication 28. U. S. Board on Geographic Names website Geographic Names Information System Proposals from the general public Meeting minutes
Fir
Firs are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Pinaceae. They are found through much of North and Central America, Europe and North Africa, occurring in mountains over most of the range. Firs are most related to the genus Cedrus. Douglas firs are not true firs, they are large trees. Firs can be distinguished from other members of the pine family by the way in which their needle-like leaves are attached singly to the branches with a base resembling a suction cup, by their cones, like those of true cedars, stand upright on the branches like candles and disintegrate at maturity. Identification of the different species is based on the size and arrangement of the leaves, the size and shape of the cones, whether the bract scales of the cones are long and exserted, or short and hidden inside the cone. Firs can be distinguished from other members of the pine family by the unique attachment of their needle-like leaves to the twig by a base that resembles a small suction cup.
The leaves are flattened, sometimes looking like they are pressed, as in A. sibirica. The leaves have two whitish lines on the bottom, each of, formed by wax-covered stomatal bands. In most species, the upper surface of the leaves is uniformly green and shiny, without stomata or with a few on the tip, visible as whitish spots. Other species have the upper surface of leaves dull, gray-green or bluish-gray to silvery, coated by wax with variable number of stomatal bands, not always continuous. An example species with shiny green leaves is A. alba, an example species with dull waxy leaves is A. concolor. The tips of leaves are more or less notched, but sometimes rounded or dull or sharp and prickly; the leaves of young plants are sharper. The way they spread from the shoot is diverse, only in some species comb-shaped, with the leaves arranged on two sides, flat Firs differ from other conifers in having erect, cylindrical cones 5–25 cm long that disintegrate at maturity to release the winged seeds.
In contrast to spruces large fir cones do not hang, but are raised like candles. Mature cones are brown, young in summer can be green, for example: A. grandis, A. holophylla, A. nordmannianaor purple and blue, sometimes dark: A. fraseri, A. homolepis, A. koreana, A. lasiocarpa, A. nephrolepis, A. sibirica, A. veitchii. Section Abies is found in central and eastern Europe and Asia Minor. Abies alba—silver fir Abies nebrodensis—Sicilian fir Abies borisii-regis—Bulgarian fir Abies cephalonica—Greek fir Abies nordmanniana—Nordmann fir or Caucasian fir Abies nordmanniana subsp. Equi-trojani—Kazdağı fir, Turkish fir Abies nordmanniana subsp. Bornmülleriana—Uludağ fir Abies pinsapo—Spanish fir Abies pinsapo var. marocana—Moroccan fir Abies numidica—Algerian fir Abies cilicica—Syrian fir Section Balsamea is found in northern Asia and North America, high mountains further south. Abies fraseri—Fraser fir Abies balsamea—balsam fir Abies balsamea var. phanerolepis—bracted balsam fir Abies lasiocarpa—subalpine fir Abies lasiocarpa var. arizonica—corkbark fir Abies lasiocarpa var. bifolia—Rocky Mountains subalpine fir Abies sibirica—Siberian fir Abies sibirica var. semenovii— Abies sachalinensis—Sakhalin fir Abies koreana—Korean fir Abies nephrolepis—Khinghan fir Abies veitchii—Veitch's fir Abies veitchii var. sikokiana—Shikoku fir Section Grandis is found in western North America to Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador, in lowlands in the north, moderate altitudes in south.
Abies grandis—grand fir or giant fir Abies grandis var. grandis—Coast grand fir Abies grandis var. idahoensis—interior grand fir Abies concolor—white fir Abies concolor subsp. Concolor—Rocky Mountain white fir or Colorado white fir Abies concolor subsp. Lowiana—Low's white fir or Sierra Nevada white fir Abies durangensis—Durango fir Abies durangensis var. coahuilensis—Coahuila fir Abies flinckii—Jalisco fir Abies guatemalensis—Guatemalan fir Abies guatemalensis var. guatemalensis Abies guatemalensis var. jaliscana Abies vejarii Section Momi is found in east and central Asia and the Himalaya at low to moderate altitudes. Abies kawakamii—Taiwan fir Abies homolepis—Nikko fir Abies recurvata—Min fir Abies recurvata var. ernestii—Min fir Abies firma—Momi fir Abies beshanzuensis—Baishanzu fir Abies holophylla—Manchurian fir Abies chensiensis—Shensi fir Abies chensiensis subsp. Salouenensis—Salween fir Abies pindrow—Pindrow fir Abies ziyuanensis—Ziyuan fir Section Amabilis is found in the Pacific Coast mountains in North America and Japan, in high rainfall areas.
Abies amabilis—Pacific silver fir Abies mariesii—Maries' fir Section Pseudopicea is found in the Sino-Himalayan mountains at high altitudes. Abies delavayi—Delavay's fir Abies delavayi var. nukiangensis— Abies delavayi var. motuoensis— Abies delavayi subsp. Fansipanensis— Abies fabri—Faber's fir Abies fabri subsp. Minensis— Abies forrestii—Forrest's fir Abies densa—Bhutan fir Abies spectabilis—East Himalayan fir Abies fargesii— Farges' fir Abies fanjingshanensis—Fanjingshan fir Abies yuanbaoshanensis—Yuanbaoshan fir Abies squamata—flaky fir Section Oiamel is found in central Mexico at high altitudes. Abies religiosa—sacred fir Abies hickelii—Hickel's fir Abies hickelii var. oaxacana—Oaxaca fir Section Nobilis Abies procera—noble fir Abies magnifica—red fir Abies magnifica var. shastensis—Shasta red fir Section Bracteata Abies bractea
Nez Perce National Historical Park
The Nez Perce National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park comprising 38 sites located throughout the states of Idaho, Montana and Washington, which included traditional aboriginal lands of the Nez Perce people. The sites are associated with the resistance of Chief Joseph and his band, who in June 1877 took off from Oregon in an attempt to reach freedom in Canada and avoid being forced on to a reservation, they were pursued by U. S. Army cavalry fought numerous skirmishes against them; the park was established in 1965, a museum was opened at the park headquarters in Spalding, Idaho, in 1983. The 38 sites span three main ecoregions. Numerous animal species inhabit the park, including several; the park commemorates the history and stories of the Nez Perce. It includes sites associated with the Nez Perce War of 1877, when the people resisted takeover by the United States, the flight of Chief Joseph and his band; the park is administered overall by the National Park Service, a number of the sites are managed by other federal and state agencies as well as local communities.
The park was established by Congress in 1965. Construction of the planned headquarters site and museum at Spalding were delayed by land acquisition and federal funding problems. Soon after construction began in September 1979, Native American graves were discovered at the site. Remains and artifacts were preserved in consultation with the Nez Perce. Construction of the visitor center and museum was restarted; the museum opened in June 1983. The Nez Perce National Historic Park does not follow the format of most national parks, in that it is composed of dozens of sites spread over four states; the 38 sites are linked by the history of the Nez Perce people, rather than by geographic location. Twenty-six of the sites are on or near the Nez Perce Indian Reservation in Idaho and can be toured in one day. Adjacent states hold the other twelve sites. Several of the sites are connected by the Nez Perce National Historic Trail, managed by the United States Forest Service, it preserves the route taken by Chief Joseph and his band when they tried to reach Canada in 1877.
The sites include: Battle of Bear Paw – Blaine County, Montana Battle of the Clearwater – Idaho County, Idaho Battle of White Bird Canyon – Idaho County, Idaho Big Hole National Battlefield – Beaverhead County, Montana Camas Meadows Battle Sites – Clark County, Idaho Camas Prairie – Idaho County and Lewis County, Idaho Camp Chopunnish – Idaho County, Idaho Joseph Canyon – Wallowa County and Asotin County, Washington Old Chief Joseph Gravesite – Wallowa County, Oregon Weippe Prairie – Weippe, Idaho The NPNHP sites cover three main ecoregions. The first, found at the sites in the Palouse grasslands and Missouri Basin, is shortgrass prairie; these flat or rolling prairies include rivers and streams, have an altitude of about 1,000 to 3,500 feet. The second, found in the plateaus of the Columbia and Snake rivers, is sagebrush steppe at around 3,000 ft in altitude; the third, found in the sites in the Blue Mountains, Salmon River Mountains, southwestern Montana and northern Rocky Mountains, is conifer and alpine meadows.
These high-elevation sites have lower temperatures and greater precipitation than the other ecoregions. Numerous species of mammals, reptiles and invertebrates inhabit the various park sites. Several of these species are classified in terms of their status as "threatened," "endangered" or "sensitive" at the state level. Montana Arctic grayling, mountain plover, swift fox, great grey owl, boreal owl and several fish species are all sensitive species that inhabit the park, while gray wolf and bald eagles are sometimes seen. Managers of the park have several ecological concerns including issues of invasive plant species, the degradation of animal habitat due to human activity, the protection of endangered species, dealing with effects of climate change. "Master Plan Nez Perce National Historic Park". National Park Service. 1968. Retrieved 2012-12-10. Ted Catton. "Administrative History-Nez Perce National Historic Park". National Park Service. Retrieved 2012-12-10. John Dishon McDermott. "Forlorn Hope-A Study of the Battle of White Bird Canyon Idaho and the Beginning of the Nez Perce Indian War".
National Park Service. Retrieved 2012-12-10. Robert Applegate. "Museum Management Plan-Nez Perce National Historical Park". National Park Service. Retrieved 2012-12-10. Official website
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory and shares its sovereignty with the federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, Americans are citizens both of the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders. Four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names. States are divided into counties or county-equivalents, which may be assigned some local governmental authority but are not sovereign. County or county-equivalent structure varies by state, states may create other local governments. State governments are allocated power by the people through their individual constitutions. All are grounded in republican principles, each provides for a government, consisting of three branches, each with separate and independent powers: executive and judicial.
States possess a number of rights under the United States Constitution. States and their residents are represented in the United States Congress, a bicameral legislature consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives; each state is entitled to select a number of electors to vote in the Electoral College, the body that directly elects the President of the United States. Additionally, each state has the opportunity to ratify constitutional amendments, with the consent of Congress, two or more states may enter into interstate compacts with one another; the tasks of local law enforcement, public education, public health, regulating intrastate commerce, local transportation and infrastructure have been considered state responsibilities, although all of these now have significant federal funding and regulation as well. Over time, the Constitution has been amended, the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed; the general tendency has been toward centralization and incorporation, with the federal government playing a much larger role than it once did.
There is a continuing debate over states' rights, which concerns the extent and nature of the states' powers and sovereignty in relation to the federal government and the rights of individuals. The Constitution grants to Congress the authority to admit new states into the Union. Since the establishment of the United States in 1776, the number of states has expanded from the original 13 to 50. Alaska and Hawaii are the most recent states admitted, both in 1959; the Constitution is silent on the question of whether states have the power to secede from the Union. Shortly after the Civil War, the U. S. Supreme Court, in Texas v. White, held; the 50 U. S. states, in alphabetical order, along with each state's flag: As sovereign entities, each of the 50 states reserves the right to organize its individual government in any way deemed appropriate by its people. As a result, while the governments of the various states share many similar features, they vary with regard to form and substance. No two state governments are identical.
The government of each state is structured in accordance with its individual constitution. Many of these documents more elaborate than their federal counterpart; the Constitution of Alabama, for example, contains 310,296 words – more than 40 times as many as the U. S. Constitution. In practice, each state has adopted the three-branch frame of the federal government: executive and judicial. In each state, the chief executive is called the governor, who serves as both head of state and head of government. All governors are chosen by direct election; the governor may approve or veto bills passed by the state legislature, as well as push for the passage of bills supported by their party. In 44 states, governors have line item veto power. Most states have a plural executive, meaning that the governor is not the only government official in the state responsible for its executive branch. In these states, executive power is distributed amongst other officials, elected by the people independently of the governor—such as the lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, others.
The constitutions of 19 states allow for citizens to remove and replace an elected public official before the end of their term of office through a recall election. Each state follows its own procedures for recall elections, sets its own restrictions on how and how soon after a general election, they may be held. In all states, the legislatures can remove state executive branch officials, including governors, who have committed serious abuses of their power from office; the process of doing so includes impeachment, a trial, in which legislators act as a jury. The primary responsibilities of state legislatures are to enact state laws and appropriate money for the administration of public policy. In all states, if the governor vetoes a bill, it can still become law if the legislature overrides the veto by a two-thirds vote in each chamber. In 49 of the 50 states the legislature consists of two chambers: a lower house (termed the House of Representati
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service is an agency of the U. S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass 193 million acres. Major divisions of the agency include the National Forest System and Private Forestry, Business Operations, the Research and Development branch. Managing 25% of federal lands, it is the only major national land agency, outside the U. S. Department of the Interior; the concept of the National Forests was born from Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation group and Crockett Club, due to concerns regarding Yellowstone National Park beginning as early as 1875. In 1876, Congress formed the office of Special Agent in the Department of Agriculture to assess the quality and conditions of forests in the United States. Franklin B. Hough was appointed the head of the office. In 1881, the office was expanded into the newly formed Division of Forestry; the Forest Reserve Act of 1891 authorized withdrawing land from the public domain as "forest reserves," managed by the Department of the Interior.
In 1901, the Division of Forestry was renamed the Bureau of Forestry. The Transfer Act of 1905 transferred the management of forest reserves from the General Land Office of the Interior Department to the Bureau of Forestry, henceforth known as the United States Forest Service. Gifford Pinchot was the first United States Chief Forester in the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. Significant federal legislation affecting the Forest Service includes the Weeks Act of 1911, the Multiple Use – Sustained Yield Act of 1960, P. L. 86-517. L. 88-577. L. 94-588. L. 91-190. L. 95-313. L. 95-307. In February 2009, the Government Accountability Office evaluated whether the Forest Service should be moved from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of the Interior, which includes the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, managing some 438,000,000 acres of public land; as of 2009, the Forest Service has a total budget authority of $5.5 billion, of which 42% is spent fighting fires.
The Forest Service employs 34,250 employees in 750 locations, including 10,050 firefighters, 737 law enforcement personnel, 500 scientists. The mission of the Forest Service is "To sustain the health and productivity of the Nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations." Its motto is "Caring for the land and serving people." As the lead federal agency in natural resource conservation, the US Forest Service provides leadership in the protection and use of the nation's forest and aquatic ecosystems. The agency's ecosystem approach to management integrates ecological and social factors to maintain and enhance the quality of the environment to meet current and future needs. Through implementation of land and resource management plans, the agency ensures sustainable ecosystems by restoring and maintaining species diversity and ecological productivity that helps provide recreation, timber, fish, wildlife and aesthetic values for current and future generations of people.
The everyday work of the Forest Service balances resource extraction, resource protection, providing recreation. The work includes managing 193,000,000 acres of national forest and grasslands, including 59,000,000 acres of roadless areas. Further, the Forest Service fought fires on 2,996,000 acres of land in 2007; the Forest Service organization includes ranger districts, national forests, research stations and research work units and the Northeastern Area Office for State and Private Forestry. Each level has responsibility for a variety of functions; the Chief of the Forest Service is a career federal employee. The Chief reports to the Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment in the U. S. Department of Agriculture, an appointee of the President confirmed by the Senate; the Chief's staff provides broad policy and direction for the agency, works with the Administration to develop a budget to submit to Congress, provides information to Congress on accomplishments, monitors activities of the agency.
There are five deputy chiefs for the following areas: National Forest System and Private Forestry and Development, Business Operations, Finance. The Forest Service Research and Development deputy area includes five research stations, the Forest Products Laboratory, the International Institute of Tropical Forestry, in Puerto Rico. Station directors, like regional foresters, report to the Chief. Research stations include Northern, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Southwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern. There are 92 research work units located at 67 sites throughout the United States. There are 80 Experimental Forests and Ranges that have been established progressively since 1908; the system provides places for long-term science and management studies in major vegetation types of the 195 million acres of public land administered by the Forest Service. Individual sites range from 47 to 22,500 ha in size. Operations of Experimental Forests and Ranges are directed by local research teams for the individual sites, by Research Stations for the regions in which they are located, at the level of the Forest Service.
Major themes in
Fort Vancouver National Historic Site
Fort Vancouver National Historic Site is a United States National Historic Site located in the states of Washington and Oregon. The National Historic Site consists of two units, one located on the site of Fort Vancouver in modern-day Vancouver, Washington; the two sites were separately given national historic designation in the 1940s. The Fort Vancouver unit was designated a National Historic Site in 1961, was combined with the McLoughlin House into a unit in 2003; the visitor center at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site was built in 1966 as a part of the National Park Service's Mission 66 Program. Today, the visitor center is co-operated by the both the National Park Service and the United States Forest Service. Recent renovations to the visitor center transformed the historic building as an information center for both Fort Vancouver National Historic Site and the Gifford Pinchot National Forest; the visitor center features rotating archaeological exhibits from the national historic site and art exhibits from local native artists.
The building has a theater that shows 3 films from the National Park Service and the United States Forest Service: Fort Vancouver - One place Across Time, Vancouver Kaiser Shipyards Documentary, Mount St. Helens - Eruption of Life; the main unit of the site, containing Fort Vancouver, is located in Vancouver, just north of Portland, Oregon. Fort Vancouver was an important Hudson's Bay Company fur trading post, established in 1824. Operations until 1845 were overseen by Chief Factor John McLoughlin, it was the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company's fur trade activity on the Pacific coast and its influence stretched from the Rocky mountains in the east, to Alaska in the north, Alta California in the south, to the Kingdom of Hawaii in the Pacific. Ratified in 1846, the Treaty of Oregon was signed by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States, thereby ending the decades long Oregon boundary dispute; the treaty permitted the Hudson's Bay Company to continue to operate at Fort Vancouver, now within the Oregon Territory.
On June 14, 1860, Fort Vancouver was abandoned by the Hudson's Bay Company in favor of their stations in British Columbia, such as Fort Victoria. In 1849, the United States Army constructed the Vancouver Barracks adjacent to the British trading post. A fire destroyed the Hudson's Bay Company fort in 1866, but the Army facility continued in operation in various forms until to the present. Fort Vancouver was separated from the Army's barracks and became a national monument in 1948. Congress re-designated the site as a National Historic Site. For some years after its addition to the National Park System, the National Park Service was reluctant to begin reconstruction of the fort walls or buildings, preferring to manage it as an archaeological site as provided by its standing policies. However, in 1965, with the urging of the local community, Congress directed reconstruction to begin. All fort structures seen today are modern replicas, albeit placed on the original locations. In response to concerns about the designation of reconstructed structures, the Park Service designated the Vancouver National Historic Reserve Historic District to encompass reconstructed buildings as well as historic Army and Mission 66 era Park Service structures.
The National Park Service operates the Pearson Air Museum on the fort grounds. An earth-covered pedestrian land bridge was built over the Lewis and Clark Highway, as part of the Confluence Project, in 2007, it connects the site with the Columbia River. The McLoughlin House unit consists of the homes of McLoughlin, of Dr. Forbes Barclay, an explorer and associate of McLoughlin's, they are located adjacent to each other on a bluff overlooking the Willamette River in Oregon City, Oregon, on a plot of land set aside for public use by McLoughlin in the 1840s. In 1846, McLoughlin left the employ of Hudson's Bay Company, purchased from the company a land claim located on the Willamette River in Oregon City. McLoughlin constructed the house there, lived there until his death in 1857; the house, a two-style colonial mansion, is typical of East Coast residences from the time. After McLoughlin's death in 1857, his widow lived there; the home soon became a bordello known as the Phoenix Hotel. In 1908, the paper mill that owned the property wished to expand and the house was threatened with demolition, but preservationists saved it the next year, raising over $1,000 and overcoming a referendum.
The house was moved from the riverfront to its current location on a bluff overlooking downtown Oregon City in 1910. It sat there for twenty-five years, until being restored in 1935-1936 under the auspices of the Civil Works Administration, opened as a museum; the Barclay House was built in 1849 by Portland carpenter and pioneer John L. Morrison, occupied by Dr. Barclay and his family. Barclay died in 1874. Today, the Barclay House contains a gift shop; the McLoughlin House became a National Historic Site in 1941, both homes were added to the National Park System in 2003, becoming part of the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. The McLoughlin House unit lies on the Oregon National Historic Trail, a part of the National Trails System; the graves of McLoughlin and his wife are on the
U.S. Route 26 in Oregon
U. S. Route 26 is a major cross-state United States highway with its western terminus in the U. S. state of Oregon, connecting U. S. Route 101 on the Oregon Coast near Seaside with the Idaho state line east of Nyssa. Local highway names include the Sunset Highway No. 47, Mount Hood Highway No. 26, John Day Highway No. 5 before continuing into Idaho and beyond. The western terminus of the highway is at an interchange with U. S. Route 101 between Seaside and Cannon Beach; the highway heads east from there through the Oregon Coast Range, providing access to Saddle Mountain and passing through the valleys of the Necanicum and Nehalem rivers. It crosses over the Oregon Coast Range, where it passes through the Dennis L. Edwards Tunnel, descending into the Tualatin Valley, into the community of Banks. East of Banks, the highway merges with Oregon Route 6 and becomes a freeway, which passes through the high-tech regions of Washington County; the freeway enters the Portland metropolitan area in the northeast corner of Hillsboro passes through the northern part of the city of Beaverton and the communities of Cedar Hills and Cedar Mill near the intersection with the northern terminus of Oregon Route 217.
At this point, MAX Light Rail is adjacent on the north side of the highway for nearly two miles until it submerges into Robertson Tunnel. The highway enters the Portland city limits near the Sylvan neighborhood, where it is joined by Oregon Route 8; the highway skirts the southern edge of Portland's Washington Park, providing access to the Oregon Zoo and other attractions. At the bottom of the grade, the highway passes through the Vista Ridge Tunnel into downtown Portland. East of the tunnel is an interchange with I-405. In Portland, the route overlaps Interstate 405 for a short distance before exiting onto city streets, including Arthur Street, to reach the Ross Island Bridge. US 26 leaves the bridge, at the beginning of the Mount Hood Highway No. 26, follows Powell Boulevard, a surface street, to Gresham. There were plans to construct a freeway alignment of US 26—the Mount Hood Freeway—to bypass Powell Boulevard. A few ramp stubs from Interstate 5 stand as evidence of this project. Roadway connections between the Portland freeway network and Mount Hood remain a big problem, as there is no good direct highway connection.
An expressway carries US 26 southeast to near Sandy. From Sandy to near Government Camp and Bennett Pass, where US 26 intersects Oregon Route 35, it follows the historic Barlow Road through the Mount Hood Corridor, is part of the Mount Hood Scenic Byway; the Mount Hood Highway branches off to the north along OR 35, the Warm Springs Highway No. 53 carries US 26 southeast through Wapinitia Pass, Blue Box Pass, the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, Agency Plains to Madras. After a short overlap with US 97, the short Madras-Prineville Highway No. 360 continues southeast to a junction with OR 126 in Prineville. At that junction, US 26 picks up the Ochoco Highway No. 41, which follows OR 126 west to US 97 in Redmond. The Ochoco Highway ends at OR 19 near Dayville, from which US 26 follows the John Day Highway No. 5 through John Day to US 20 in Vale. The remainder of US 26 in Oregon overlaps US 20 on the Central Oregon Highway No. 7 to the Idaho state line. An ancient trail passed through the section of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation as part of an extensive Indian trade network linking peoples of the northern Great Basin and Columbia Plateau to those living west of the Cascade Range.
Obsidian, bear grass, slaves were transported over these trails to major trading locations along the Columbia River in exchange for dried salmon, smelt and decorative sea shells. The long established route was used by Peter Skene Ogden's fur trapping expeditions in 1825 and 1826. Fur trader Nathaniel Wyeth was here in the 1830s. Captain John C. Frémont followed this route on his 1843 explorations for the United States and Lieutenant Henry Larcom Abbot headed a Pacific Railroad survey party along it in 1855; the Sunset Highway portion was under construction by January 1933. Both the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps participated in the construction during the Great Depression. Portions of highway opened to the public on September 19, 1941. In 1949, the highway was completed; the highway was named the Wolf Creek Highway after a nearby creek of the same name. The Oregon State Highway Commission renamed it the Sunset Highway at their January 17, 1946 meeting by a unanimous vote.
The name is drawn from both the nickname and insignia of the 41st Infantry Division, drawn from Oregon, because the highway leads towards the setting sun. Milepoints are as reported by ODOT and do not reflect current mileage. Z indicates overlapping mileage due to cons
