Barlow: End of the Road That Opened Oregon
Near Dundee, Oregon
The town of Barlow is named for William Barlow, son of the man behind one of Oregon history's most consequential decisions. Samuel Kimbrough Barlow scouted the Barlow Road in eighteen forty-five and built it the next year, the final overland segment of the Oregon Trail that skirted south of Mount Hood. Before Barlow's toll road opened, emigrants had no choice but to raft the dangerous Columbia River rapids to reach the Willamette Valley. The road was rough and steep, but it gave thousands of wagon families solid ground to the end of the trail.
Samuel's son William later settled the land claim where this town sits. The railroad came through in eighteen seventy, the post office opened in eighteen seventy-one, and the station was christened Barlow. It is a small place, but almost every family who walked into the Willamette Valley overland passed very near here.
