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The
pass located east of here through the Cascade Range was once called
Wiley Pass after Andrew Wiley. Wiley with other Willamette Valley
pioneers explored it in 1859 while searching for a route to move
their livestock to the grass lands of central Oregon for summer
grazing. In 1864 the Willamette Valley and Cascade Mountain Military
Wagon Road Company was formed and submitted plans to the U.S. Government
for a Military Road to be built along the route as far east as the
mouth of the Malheur River. The Land Grant of 1866 included 861,512
acres for the road builder. Little road was never constructed and
much of the land reverted to the State. In 1868 a wagon road was
completed from the valley to near Sisters and became a Toll Road
known as the Santiam Wagon Road.
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