For an 1869 map it seems reasonable. It appears that the railroad route follows the Willamette River, not Salt Creek, to its headwaters to cross the Cascades.

Bynon Johns Pengra arrived in Oregon in 1853. He took a Donation Land Claim (DLC 1664) where the south switch (UP south, SP west) at Natron is presently located. He was one of the very early Republican Party members in Lane County and as such he was a presidential elector for Lincoln from Oregon in 1860. Lincoln wanted to connect the military instillations in the west and proposed military roads between them. Pengra was appointed Surveyor General of Oregon. In 1863 he started the Oregon Central Military road that was to run between Eugene and Fort Boise. In 1864 the survey and construction was under way up the Willamette River and over the Cascades. The route selected by Pengra was from Eugene, through Springfield, across his property at Natron, and then toward the upper end of the Willamette valley where Lowell is presently located. Almost immediately controversy arose because of the route selected. He had not chosen the most direct route and the route he had selected crossed his property. His defense was that he was surveying the Military Road route with the plan that at some future date it would become a railroad. His handwritten survey notes, letters of defense about the route, expenses, and other letters are at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland.

The Pengra survey and Military Road followed the Willamette to what is now Oakridge. (It wasn’t Oakridge until the railroad arrived. Previous names for the surrounding areas were Big Prairie and Hazeldell) From there the Pengra survey continued to follow the Willamette river, not Salt Creek. The Willamette river was the route that the Lost/Elliott wagon train had used in 1853. That route crossed the Cascades south of Diamond peak near Summit Lake. Not north of Diamond peak like the present route. From the summit the road headed toward Klamath Lake.

Pengra promoted the route until his death in 1903. At one time he had C. P. Huntington of the SP interested. In 1869 the mapmaker could easily show a route over the Cascades with a survey and somebody promoting it. Between Klamath Lake and Winnemucca it was probably pure speculation.

jb