Pioneer Highway

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The Champoeg Memorial Highway was a 7.13-mile state highway that would have run between the Champoeg State Heritage Area and the Beaverton-Aurora Highway #141 north of Aurora. Originally proposed in 1935, the plan was ultimately dropped in 1936 due to issue acquiring right-of-way and burdensome funding regulations. To this day, there is no state highway that passes by the Champoeg State Heritage Site.

Routing

According to an OSHD Right of Way Map from February 1936, the western terminus of the Champoeg Memorial Highway would have been slightly to the south of the Pioneer Memorial Building in the Champoeg State Heritage Area. From there, it would have roughly paralleled the Willamette River easterly along its southern bank, cutting through the original platted streets of Champoeg in the process. At the historic town of Butteville, about 3 miles from the western terminus, the highway would have stopped following the river and curved to meet present-day Arndt Road east of town. From there, it would run due east along Arndt Road, crossing the Oregon Electric Railroad tracks at Butteville Station and eventually straddling the Marion-Clackamas County line. Finally, after a 6.89-mile journey, the Champoeg Memorial Highway would have split into a pair of 0.24-mile wyes to connect to both directions of a slightly-reconstructed Beaverton-Aurora Highway (marked "Tigard-Aurora Highway" on the ROW map) at its eastern terminus. Today, this location is about 2 miles north of Aurora at the corner of Arndt Road and Airport Road, at the northeast corner of the Aurora State Airport.

In addition to Arndt Road, this highway would have run over portions of present-day Schuler Road near Butteville, as well as parts of the Townsite Trail and Champoeg-Butteville Bike Path in and around Champoeg State Heritage Site.

• Close-Ups of February 1936 Champoeg Memorial Highway ROW Map
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  Western terminus, Champoeg State Heritage Area

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  Butteville

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  Butteville Station

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  Eastern terminus, Beaverton-Aurora Highway near Aurora

History

Champoeg

Situated on the southern bank of the Willamette River, the former townsite of Champoeg was best known for the Champoeg Meetings between European-American and French-Canadian settlers from 1841 to 1843. After the United States Congress failed to establish a government, these meetings led to a series of votes on May 2, 1843 on whether to form their own provisional government. At the time, control of the territory was disputed between the United States and the United Kingdom, and the British Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) had a sizeable influence in the region. The HBC initially convinced all the French-Canadians to vote against the provisional government twice. During the third vote, two French-Canadians switched their votes to side with the European-Americans, thus establishing a provisional government, 52 to 50. While it was originally hoped that Champoeg would become the capital of this new government, Oregon City ended up being selected instead when the Oregon Territory was formed in 1848.

While the town continued to exist and grow after its failed bid to become the capital, disaster would soon strike. Due to exceedingly heavy rains in November 1861, the town was flooded and mostly washed away on December 2. It was never rebuilt. Starting in 1901, the state of Oregon acquired land to create Champoeg State Park, now known as the Champoeg State Heritage Area.