Siskiyou Pass

The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) made the Siskiyou Trail over the pass before pioneers traversed it with their wagons, while still later it evolved into a stage road, a railroad line, and a highway route.

[2] "The original pass crosses the divide between the Rogue and Klamath Rivers at a slight topographic notch formed by the geological contact between the older Siskiyou Mountains to the west and the younger volcanic Cascade Range to the east."

The first person noted with crossing this pass was Peter Skene Ogden, an HBC fur trader, who led his group of trappers traveling from south to north in February 1827.

The hazards and extreme winter climate was experienced in 1829 when Alexander Roderick McLeod encountered a severe blizzard while traveling from Fort Vancouver via the Rogue Valley.

HBC started using the pass as a trail for wagons in the later part of the nineteenth century and then converted it into a stage road, and eventually to a railroad line.

The pass was beset with security issues as local Indian tribes attacked the foreign agencies operating on the route including robbing rail cars.

The precautionary measures including chaining truck tires along road shoulders, providing designated inspection sites, as well as avoiding travel during night and early morning hours in winter months.