Mt. Baker Highway: History - Highway

The idea of a road from Bellingham Bay to the mines near Mt. Baker surfaced in 1879. People were especially excited about building a road to the “gold laden” Ruby Creek Mines on the mountain’s southern slope. At the time, there was no road beyond the Nooksack River, west of Everson.

In 1886, a surveyor named Banning Austin and his party went up the North Fork of the Nooksack River to map out a northern route for the proposed road. After 28 days, they only reached Hope, B.C. Though the mission was a failure, the road idea was gaining momentum.

By 1893, the county wagon road was extended to the mill town of Maple Falls (Hwy. Mile 25). Whatcom County politicians lobbied the Washington State Legislature to create a state road across the Cascades north of Mt. Baker, connecting western and eastern Washington.

Miners teamed with county and state officials to fund a second survey in 1893. Once again, they hired Austin. This time her found a route, but only if a 2,000-foot railroad tunnel could be blasted through the mountains. Austin suggested the road run along what the Nooksack Indians called Wild Goose Pass. County commissioners were so pleased with Austin’s report that they renamed the pass in his honor.

The road was completed up to the town of Shuksan, six miles above Nooksack Falls. But funds had been spent by November, and work stopped. Politics, lack of money and accumulating evidence that Austin’s route would be impossible slowed progress.

In July 1894, the commission appointed civil engineer B.W. “Bert” Huntoon and draftsman H.M. Wellman to find a more feasible route. They concluded that there was no possible route over the Cascades. Nonetheless, miners, settlers and the county upgraded the road to reach mines and logging camps.