In 1850, Peter Scholl, a great-nephew of frontiersman Daniel Boone, took up a donation claim at the end of the Oregon Trail and started operating a ferry that became one of the Tualatin River’s most vital crossings. The raft, built of cedar logs, was pulled across the river by rope. The ferry landing was along the main route between Portland and counties of the upper Willamette Valley. Travel was excruciatingly slow on the often-muddy road. In the late 1850s, Scholl built a toll bridge to replace the ferry, but the span soon washed out. The first durable bridge was built in 1870. Credit: Oregonian.
The current Scholls Bridge was built in 2008. There is a nice patch of Wapato, an important “First Food” of the Atfalati, under the bridge.
