Devil's Elbow
By Curt Cunningham

Before the Pacific Highway was improved in the 1920's, it was a narrow road with many steep hills and sharp curves. After a good rain, the road across the swampy bottom lands would become a sea of mud. The highway through Cowlitz county was squeezed between the steep hills and the river making it one of the worst places to build a highway. About 2 miles south of Castle Rock was a notorious curve that was known as the "Devil's Elbow." The road had rounded the steep hillside on a narrow curve that had blind spots at both ends. Cars going around the curve could not see if an oncoming car was approaching. This made for some wild scenes of cars swerving to avoid an accident. Most motorists were lucky in negotiating the curve, but some were not as fortunate.

In 1871, the Northern Pacific built its line through through Castle Rock on what is now called Huntington Avenue. In 1911, the railroad laid double tracks between Portland and Tacoma, and a large cut over a mile long was dug into the hill to the east of town. To make this new alignment match up with the old grade at the south end, a new curve was built and the new line connected to the old line at the Devil's Elbow. The original highway crossed over the tracks to the north of the elbow and after the new line was laid, the railroad built an under crossing about a quarter mile to the north of the curve.

On October 18, 1913, a road crew was busy improving the infamous "Devil's Elbow" after several cars slipped over the bank during the previous summer. The work was to widen the road and to make the approaches visible to drivers coming from either direction.

In 1915 a preliminary resolution of the Cowlitz county commissioners to improve a section of the Pacific Highway north and south of Castle Rock had been approved. Because of difficulties in securing the right of way, the county officers were prevented from getting the improvement project under way. In 1916, a state contract was awarded for the graveling of 1.41 miles of the highway south of Castle Rock.

On November 11, 1917, Joe H. Jordan wrote an article for the Oregon Sunday Journal about a trip in his Hupmobile from Portland to Fort Lewis. Relatives of some of the "Oregon Boys" were inquiring to the newspaper about the road conditions on the 152 mile route to the fort, to see if they could make the journey without any major issues. In order to get correct information for the readers, Jordan made an arrangement with E. C. Habel, who was the sales manager of the Manley Auto Company in Portland, to make the run. L. Y. Billingsley, a salesman took the wheel of the Hupmobile and they completed a successful round trip.

Traveling north on their way up the highway, they encountered one of the worst places after driving along the railroad for a couple of miles out of Kelso. Jordan said that; "the road then followed along the bank of the river for quite a distance. The only bad spot we came upon was south of Castle Rock at what is known as the "Devil's Elbow," where a new fill was being made and the road crossed over a temporary railroad crossing. Billingsley made the curve without any problems."

On November 15, 1917, contractor Jarvis & Burkheimer had work crews busy on the Pacific Highway south of Castle Rock. They were constructing a large cut and fill using a steam shovel and 2 donkey engines. The work crews were moving about 500 yards of dirt each day. This project built a new straighter alignment over a half a mile long, eliminating Devil's Elbow and the old road over the hill.

On December 1, 1917, road work had completely blocked the highway at the Devil's Elbow. The county commissioners ordered the highway closed to traffic and all travel between Kelso and Castle Rock had to take the Westside Highway. The detour was good through Lexington and Sandy Bend to the Cook ferry. The highway was blocked for several months as the road crews dug into the side of the hill to build the new alignment and then fill in the gaps with the excavated dirt. Because of the terrain, it was impossible to open a detour road around the construction. The project was completed in the summer of 1918.

By the summer of 1922, the county had acquired the right of way for an improved highway south of Castle Rock. That August work crews began construction of a mile of new roadway from the north end of the Devil's Elbow to the Cook's ferry landing just south of Castle Rock. This new road was built on top of the old Northern Pacific grade.

On April 17, 1923 the highway from Stockport to Castle Rock was paved with concrete 20 feet wide. The paving work was completed on December 29, 1923. On November 30, 1926, a contract was awarded for the construction of new trusses for the overhead railroad crossing south of Castle Rock. In 1928 the bridge was re-decked.

In 1950, when the freeway was under construction, the old bridge over the railroad was removed and a new bridge was built. The old highway had to be moved to the west so that the new freeway could be built. This is when Pleasant Hill Road was built.

Today's motorist driving along Pleasant Hill Road passes over the tip of the once notorious Devils Elbow as they drive between Kelso and Castle Rock.