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292 WALTER BAILEY Captain Barlow, early in December, applied to the territorial legislature, then in session in Oregon City, for a charter to open a road across the Cascade mountains. 22 He was allowed to address the House on the subject and on December 16th, a charter was granted. As soon as the snow left the mountains in the spring, Barlow engaged a force of about forty men and opened the road from Foster's farm in the Clackamas valley to the camp where the wagons were left. 23 A subscription list was circulated among the Oregon settlers to help defray the expenses of this construction, but a writer in the Oregon Spectator of February 18, 1847, declares that he "has it from an authentic source that only thirty dollars was ever received." For two years following the construction, Captain Barlow personally collected the toll. In 1846 according to his report "one hundred and forty-five wagons, fifteen hundred and fifty- nine head of horses, mules and horned cattle, and one drove of sheep" passed through the toll gates. 2 * The Barlow road continued to be extensively used by immi- grants until the building of the railroad along the Columbia, and it is still in use. From 1848 to 1862 the road was leased by Barlow to various operators, among whom were Philip Foster and Joseph Young. 2 * These men did little except collect the tolls and the highway lapsed into an almost impassable condition. In October, 1862, 26 the Mount Hood Wagon Road Company, capitalized at twenty-five thousand dollars, was organized to take over and reconstruct the old road. This enterprise appears to have been a failure but in May, 1864, a new company called the Cascade Road and Bridge Company was incorporated. 22 Oregon Archives, 1853, p. 126. 23 Evans; Quarterly Oreg. Hist. Soc., Vol. Ill, p. 79. 24 Evans; Oregon Spectator, Oct. 29, 1846. 25 Evans; Quarterly Oreg. Hist. Soc., Vol. Ill, p. 79. There is scanty material concerning the operation of the road during these years. It is probable that the California gold rush and the Indian troubles diverted men's attention from internal improvements. During one year at least the toll gates were unguarded. 26 Art. of Incorp. of the Mt. Hood Wagon Road Co., Clerk's office, Oregon City. 27 Art. of Incorp. of Cascade Road and Bridge Co., Clerk's office, Oregon City.