Hawk Hill
By Curt Cunningham

Before 1915 on the Pacific Highway leading northwest out of La Center, there was a notorious incline that was known as Hawk's Hill. The top of the hill is located at the intersection of NW Bolen Road and NW 9th Avenue. Many of the roads in and around La Center were built in the late 1870's and early 1880's by William Bolen and other town residents. NW Bolen Road built about 1883, originally terminated at the bottom of the hill near the mouth of the East fork of the Lewis River. By 1900, the road had been extended to the Woodland ferry.

Beginning at La Center, the original Pacific Highway crossed the bridge into town from the south and then traveled up Aspen Avenue to West 10th Street. The route turned left and traveled west down West 10th Avenue to NW 9th Avenue, and turned right. This is the foot of Hawk Hill. The highway then continued north up the hill on NW 9th Avenue to NW Bolen Road and turned left. After about a mile, the road begins its descent to the river. After this road was extended to the ferry at Woodland, it became known as the "High Road." The "Low Road" was the route south out of Woodland and ran across the bottom land to the Pekin Ferry, and then climbed up the hill to Pioneer.

In 1909, Clark County approved funding to improve the narrow wagon road between Woodland and La Center. This improvement, completed in 1910, made the old wagon road passable for autos. This section of the highway runs along a steep mountainous hillside on the eastern bank of the East Fork. It was as difficult and treacherous as the road over Carrolls Mountain. The Carrrolls Mountain section of the Pacific Highway was completed in 1910, and the Woodland-La Center road became the worst place on the entire route in Washington.

On July 17, 1910, a committee was sent by the Vancouver Automobile Club to inspect the highway between Vancouver and Kelso. E. E. Beard reported that a section of the bad road in Clark county was made fairly passable by the county. In I. M. Baker's 30 horsepower 1898 Maxwell, the committee traveled over the worst section of the road. Beard said that; "we found that Clark County's portion of the road, between La Center and Woodland, has been made passable and we drove right over it without any trouble. Clark county had spent about $300 on the road between La Center and Lewis River and a wonderful showing has been made with that amount of money."

On July 2, 1911, O. E. McCarthy took a trip up the highway from Portland and reported the condition of the road between La Center and Woodland; "The road for a number of miles out of Vancouver is in very good condition, but near La Center it is not so enjoyable. La Center was reached at 10:52am, after a drive of 18.5 miles. Leaving La Center, the road conditions become more difficult, there being many sharp pitches and turns, with high centers, both lengthwise and crosswise. The 5 miles from La Center to the Woodland ferry was made in 33 minutes."

On May 23, 1913, Governor Lister and a party of officials arrived at Vancouver after having traveled over every mile of the Pacific Highway from Blaine, on the Canadian border, to the north bank of the Columbia River. When Governor Lister and all the members of the State Highway Commission reached Vancouver, they were given a warm reception. The officials passed over the worst part of the Pacific Highway that day. From the east end of the newly dedicated bridge at Woodland to La Center, a distance of 5 miles, the road was now absolutely impassable for automobiles. So the party was taken to La Center in a horse drawn carriage, where all of the school children, headed by a brass band, met the distinguished visitors when they arrived.

Hawk Hill and La Center Hill, which is across the river south of town, were now some of the worst sections of the Pacific Highway on the entire coast. After a good rain, Hawk's Hill would become too slippery for autos to make it up or down, unless you brought chains with you. Horse drawn wagons, of course, had no difficulty. In 1914, a year before the Panama Exposition was to begin, the state wanted the Pacific Highway to be ready for the tourists going to the event. There was much work that still needed to be done in order to make the highway a decent road for the automobile. The worst places left to improve were all in Clark and Cowlitz counties.

In the Fall of 1914, construction began between La Center and Woodland. The work was a 3.75 mile stretch on the worst part of the hill. This work included a new grade that bypassed Hawk's Hill and in a few places some fill work was needed to be done and a concrete culvert needed to be built. The culvert was so that the water could drain off the hill and flow under the road. C. H. Maginnis, of Portland, was the contractor who graded the 3.75 miles of the 5 mile road, extending from the Lewis River bridge toward La Center. The work was completed on October 15, 1914, and this section was graveled about month later.

On March 12, 1916, an extensive mudslide occurred on the Pacific Highway between Woodland and La Center. The slide was on Hawk's Hill and covered the road for about 700 yards. Crews had cut out a narrow opening in the mud so traffic could continue to get through. On May 7, 1916, it was reported that the 5 miles between the towns was now a good gravel road and the muddy places were covered with planks and protected with guard logs to prevent any more erosion.

On March 21, 1921, scouts from the Oregon Journal took a trip from Portland up the Pacific Highway to Kalama. When they arrived at La Center, they got a glimpse at some new and highly painted farm machinery in front of a store, as they drove through town, with curious eyes watching their every move. In the blink of an eye, La Center was in the rear, as the car climbed the hill beyond, and on to the next town. From La Center to Woodland the road consisted of well packed gravel and clay that made a good surface and permitted the scouts to use a faster and a more pleasant pace. 

The Dort that the scouts were driving, navigated the bad stretches effortlessly and on the smooth miles toward Woodland, they made good time. Between La Center and Woodland, the scenery was spectacular. The road rises up toward the heights and off to the left, the scouts could to see the Oregon side of the river, separated from the low pond land nearer the road by a fringe of trees bordering the Washington bank. 

There are coves and sandy beaches in abundance, places where the tourist of yesteryear could tie up a boat and camp or just spend a moment to catch a fish, far from the maddening crowd's scrambling effort. The valley was just getting its green cloak on again after the winter, of discontent, of perhaps the eyes of the party were a little bit too optimistic. This was a new road through here, but the old way could still be seen rambling about among the hills and gullies to the left and right like a tramp very much down at heel and out at elbow.

On October 2, 1921, About midway between La Center and Woodland, contractors were hard at work widening the curves and preparing the highway for pavement the following year. At one point a deep cut and fill was made which shortened the highway by several hundred feet and eliminated a number of sharp curves. At other points the road was widened and straightened.

No particular difficulty would have been encountered in going over this section of the road at that time, as practically all of the work was either off the main road altogether, or it was on one side of the road, and the main graveled track was left open for traffic. However, there were a number of points where the slick brown clay was apt to wash over the
road during a rain, making it very slippery, and motorists were advised to take chains for such an emergency.

The Pacific Highway was closed between La Center and Woodland on May 5, 1922, so that paving work could begin. The contract for paving the 5-mile stretch between the two towns was awarded to the United Contracting company and the project cost slightly more than $200,000. Traffic was then detoured on the "Low Road" to the Pekin ferry. The paving work on this section was completed October 1, 1922. Though there were still a few spots where the fill needed to settle some before it could be paved, and planking was laid over these little sections.

When the work was completed on the "S" curve at La Center Hill in November of 1922, the Pacific Highway was now completely paved throughout Clark County. Motorists could then drive from Portland to Kalama without leaving the pavement. The highway completion between Vancouver and Kalama was celebrated at La Center on September 10, 1921. Although the highway would be officially completed after the bridge over the East Fork was finished in 1924.