Barlow, Clackamas County. Barlow is on the main line of the Southern Pacific Company in Clackamas County, and also on the Pacific Highway. It was named for William Barlow. He was a son of Samuel K. Barlow, who opened the Barlow Road. William Barlow's reminiscences are printed in the Oregon Historical Society Quarterly, volume XIII, page 240, where it is stated that he was born October 26, 1822, in Marion County, Indiana, and it was in that state that his father had married Susannah Lee. The Barlows came to Oregon in 1845, traveling over the Cascade Range by what was later known as the Barlow Road, and arrived in Oregon City Christmas night. He engaged in various enterprises, and among other things, started the first black walnut trees grown in Oregon in 1859. Samuel K. Barlow bought the donation land claim of Thomas McKay on September 17, 1850, and afterwards sold this place to his son William. The railroad was built through the place about 1870, and the station was named for William Barlow. Barlow has an elevation of 101 feet.
Barlow Road, Clackamas and Wasco Counties. The Barlow Road was named for Samuel Kimbrough Barlow, a pioneer of 1845, who developed the first made road in the state of Oregon. For a description of the difficulties the Barlows had getting over the Cascade Range on what was later the Barlow Road, see Oregon Historical Society Quarterly, volume XIII, page 240. For a history of the road itself, see ibid., page 287. Barlow started the work when he came over with the emigration, and finished it the following year. From the summit of the Cascade Range westward to Sandy the Mt. Hood Loop Highway is in substantially the same location as the Barlow Road, though of course modern engineering has solved some of Samuel K. Barlow's greatest difficulties. East of the summit the Barlow Road has been in disuse for many years for a considerable distance down the eastern slope, especially where it traversed the canyon of White River.
