Governor Dan Evans addresses the crowd at Newhalem at the opening of the North Cascades Highway in 1972. (Photo courtesy of Washington State Archives)

One of Washington’s most scenic highways is celebrating its birthday. On Sept. 2, 1972 – 42 years ago – the North Cascades Highway (State Route 20) opened to the public.

While it is relatively young compared to other highways, it was a long time in the making.

In 1895, the project received its first state dollars, and the State Road Commission took to the drawing board. In 1897, repetitive floods took out most of the 40-foot-wide wagon road that had been roughed out along the Cascade River in the previous year. Feeling defeated, no work was added until eight years later, when a road was built along the Methow River from Pateros to Harts Pass. This road remained on the state highway system for nearly four decades, until the end of the 1940s when the Legislature removed it from the system.

In 1956, Ike Munson, who had chosen the path the highway should take after surveying various areas, took the state highway commissioners on a horseback ride along his proposed route. George D. Zahn, a former state senator, tagged along on the trip and fell in love with the landscape surrounding the would-be highway. Zahn then worked relentlessly on getting the highway finished by repeatedly securing funding from numerous public sources.

A marching band of children celebrating the opening of the highway. (Photo courtesy of Washington State Archives)

With financing coming in, work began again in 1959. Workers traveled the length of the highway in groups, building it section by section. One promoter of the highway, Jack Wilson of Mazama, said the crews he helped transport worked 10 days straight and then had four days off. Crews worked tirelessly like this for the next 13 years, battling enemies such as mosquitoes, hornets and rattlesnakes – but they still managed to finish without the loss of a single life.

Over the eight decades it took to transform the highway from an idea into a completed product, an estimated $33 million was spent – but what came from it, a road trip boasting gorgeous scenic views and plenty of recreational opportunities, is probably more than the original planners could have asked for.

North Cascades Highway. (Photo courtesy Washington State Department of Transportation)