Route around Cape Perpetua started out as footpath, then trail before road blasted from basalt

Lincoln County Historical Society **Mail carrier Gilbert Nyhus uses the first wagon road around Cape Perpetua that was constructed in 1914.**

Early settlers to the central Oregon coast used Native American people’s trails to get around the Cape Perpetua.

In the late 1800s, a crude trail was cut to allow mail carriers to deliver mail. The trail went up the cape and often hugged the cliff.

In 1900 Nick Ludeman had a three-year contract to carry the mail from Florence to Waldport three times per week. His pay was $200 a year.

In 1914 the Forest Service blasted a narrow road around Cape Perpetua and a wooden bridge was constructed over the Yachats River. A metal bridge replaced the wooded in 1926 as part of the Roosevelt Memorial Highway, which was designated as part of U.S. Highway 101 that year and renamed the Oregon Coast Highway in 1931.

Lincoln County Historical Society **This steel bridge was built over the Yachats River in 1926 as part of the Roosevelt Memorial Highway, replacing a wooden bridge bridge over Yachats River constructed in 1914.**

Historical photos and text provided by the Lincoln County Historical Society in a partnership with YachatsNews. To learn more about the society and local history, visit its website here. A sampling of historic images from the LCHS collection can be seen at OregonDigital.org