#ROUGH DRAFT BURGERS DRIVERS#

Nothing was happening.įinally at about 12:10 a helicopter arced out of the sky and landed in a whirl of dust. Folks looked around, murmured in puzzlement. (Even the member on crutches joined in.) The anthem ended, the music faded. The Twisp Boy Scouts dutifully presented the colors, and the 15-member Winthrop High School Band struck up the Star Spangled Banner.

Noon approached and organizers and spectators began to notice that many of the expected dignitaries hadn't arrived yet. Tommy Thompson told tales of cutting the first trail through Rainy Pass in 1906 everything was going along great. The Winthrop Kiwanis served up burgers and chili 84-year-old T. Men compared and contrasted their vehicles while women and children hiked in the warm sun, admiring scenery that most had never seen. Most people made it to the pass by 10:30, 90 minutes before ceremonies were to start. In places the road is rough but graded some sections are a thin bulldozer cut along steep mountainsides, and others a scrape through the alpine forest.' ' the pioneer road begins, slashing up the canyons of Ruby and Granite creeks to Rainy Pass, 4,860 feet high. on the 28-mile streak of 'pioneer road' from Panther Creek to Rainy Pass, which the Bellingham Herald described as follows: Joe Peterson, president of the Trailblazers Jeep Club in Bellingham, proudly reported that he managed an average of 11.2 m.p.h. But conditions were better than anticipated. Heeding the warning, travelers from both east and west of Rainy Pass got an early start into the hinterlands.

#ROUGH DRAFT BURGERS DRIVERS#

State officials had warned drivers that it would be a tough trek to the top and not to expect to average more than 10 m.p.h. On Sunday, September 29, 1968, nearly 1,000 happy travelers came together at Rainy Pass by four-wheel-drive jeep, dune buggy, motorcycle, and horse to dedicate the highway.

Much of it wasn't yet suitable for cars, but it was still cause for celebration. After an arduous, adventurous nine years, a rough dirt road was finished through the mountains in 1968.

Construction focused on a 50-plus-mile stretch that ran from Diablo Dam in Whatcom County to Early Winters Creek near Mazama in Okanogan County. Work ended in 1899 and didn't resume in earnest until 1959, by which time a more northerly route had been chosen. In 1893 the Washington State Legislature appropriated $20,000 to build a road through the North Cascades, and work was done during the 1890s on a route named the Cascade Wagon Road, which would have taken the road across Cascade Pass and through Stehekin. The highway, a portion of State Route 20, runs across Northern Washington from Skagit County to Okanogan County. But the stage is set for the highway's eventual completion, which will occur in September 1972. 'Rough draft' is the operative phrase here, as there are many miles of road that are unsuitable for most vehicles. On September 29, 1968, a rough draft of the North Cascades Highway - then known as the North Cross-State Highway - is dedicated at Rainy Pass in the North Cascade Mountains.

Rough draft burgers