The Sunday Oregonian, February 11, 1968, 3M, page 25 History Buffs Follow Traces of Century-Old Wagon Road Across Eastern Oregon Sage by Phil F. Brogan, Staff Correspondent, The Oregonian. Bend (Special) Still visible in the range country southeast of the pioneer town of Antelope, Wasco County, are traces of an old wagon road "constructed" just a century ago. This was The Dalles Military Road "from The Dalles City, on the Columbia River, to Fort Boise, on the Snake River: Distance 330 1/2 miles." It was a highly controversial "road," built after its potential use had faded and several years after the gold rush on the John Day at Canyon City had subsided. Harvey W. Scott, early-day editor of The Oregonian, wrote on June 26, 1869: "A large part of this 'road' was built simply by driving an ox-cart over the country while two men trudged behind with shovels on their shoulders." The military route ran from The Dalles to a crossing of the Deschutes near its mouth at Gordon's Bridge, moved upland to Mud Springs (Erskine), then to Haystack, later known as Finnegan, and on to Cross Hollows, where the Columbia Souther Railroad later was to halt at the end of the rails to establish Shaniko, now a ghost town. Sage Traversed >From Cross Hollows, where a stage station had been established, the route led south through the sage to the Antelope Valley and the Maupin stage stop, operated by Howard Maupin. Later, the town of Antelope was to take shape about two miles to the west. On the old military map, the Maupin station is listed as "Moppin." >From the Maupin station, the route, still closely following the pioneer trail to the Canyon City gold diggings, moved southeast to Cold Camp, then down to Cherry Creek and Bridge Creek to historic Camp Watson, near the fringe of a pine forest. Between Camp Watson and Canyon City, the military road crossed the John Day River four times. Distance from The Dalles to Canyon City was 197 miles. Passengers making that long dusty, or muddy, trip paid fares of $25 each. Promoters of The Dalles Military Road obtained a grant of 592.557.8 acres of land in alternate sections across the region where the route was to be built. The acreage extended the entire distance to Fort Boise. The road expenditure was listed at $38,937.09. Congress approved the military road project on February 25, 1867. Work on the road was well under way 100 years ago this year. On June 23, 1869, more than eight months after the Oregon Legislature had approved the grant, Governor George L. Woods of The Dalles accepted the road. Acceptance, it was noted by Giles French of Moro, author of "The Golden Land," followed a personal inspection of the road by the governor. With the governor's inspection party was W.M. Hand, editor of The Mountaineer, published in The Dalles. Hand reported in full detail on the inland trip over the route into the gold country, colse to the old trails of Indians. A section of the road, apparently little used, extended from the Deschutes-John Day divide southeast of Antelope and moved down a steep grade to Fir Creek and on over Currant and Muddy creeks. History buffs will be traveling the 100-year-old military route when range country dries and grass greens juniper hills. But they will find scant traces of the gold route that long ago led to the John Day area and western Idaho.