Archives West Finding Aid

The notion of constructing a road from Bellingham Bay to the Ruby Creek Mines on the southern slope of Mount Baker first emerged in 1879, a time when there was no road beyond the Nooksack River west of the town of Everson. In 1886, surveyor Banning Austin led a delegation up the North Fork of the Nooksack River to map out a northerly route for a proposed road to Mount Baker. Although the mission ended in failure, the idea of a road to the mountain continued to gain momentum. The county wagon road was extended to the town of Maple Falls by 1893 and in the same year Whatcom County politicians lobbied the Washington State Legislature to construct a state road across the Cascades, north of Mount Baker, which would serve to connect western and eastern Washington.

A second survey was proposed in 1893 and Austin was again hired as surveyor. This time he found a possible route but one which would require that a 2,000-foot railroad tunnel be dynamited through the mountains. The pass (formerly Wild Goose Pass) was called Austin Pass in his honor. The road was extended as far as the town of Shuksan, six miles above Nooksack Falls, but lack of funds soon halted the construction. The lack of money, combined with political complications and increasing evidence that Austin's route would be impossible, further impeded progress. Engineer Bert Huntoon and draftsman H.M. Wellman were appointed by the commission to find a more feasible course in July of 1894. Although they found no possible route over the Cascades, miners, settlers, and the county continued to improve the road in order to reach mines and logging camps, paving the way for the 1923 plan to extend the road from Shuksan to the Mount Baker Development Company's proposed luxury lodge.

In 1925, forest rangers completed the trail to Table Mountain, which overlooked Austin Pass Meadow (the proposed hotel site) and in 1926 the site was renamed Heather Meadows. On October 14, 1925, Huntoon's automobile was the first through to the end of the highway. The road to Heather Meadows was completed by autumn of the same year. On July 14, 1927, the Mount Baker Lodge was officially open for business. By 1929, the highway department extended the road three miles beyond Heather Meadows to Artist Point and the 58-mile Mount Baker Highway was finally completed.