LE BLEU ROAD HISTORY
LeBleu road began about 100 years ago as a homestead access road. Between 1870 and 1950 most of the land along the top of the ridge was owned by Harry Taylor or the McBeth family (the big white house at the head of the road was the McBeth family ranch house). By 1950 these large ranches had been broken up into smaller parcels and the road began to settle into its current route. Up to 1960 the road was little more than a single lane path with turnouts for vehicles to pass. After a good rain some of the softer spots could almost mire an elephant. But with the continued liberal application of boulders and gravel and with the help of a truck-pulled scraper, the road began to solidify and widen.
In 1968 the residents of the road felt that some sort of formal organization was needed to oversee road maintenance and also provide a means whereby the road might eventually be turned over to the county. So the LeBleu Special Road District was created. Oregon Statutes decree that Special Districts such as ours have the power to hold property and to tax, but our district has not yet exercised either of those rights. The roadway still passes over private property and the district operates through the voluntary donations of its members.
From its formation, the district has continued to improve the roadbed. About 10 truck loads of gravel was added each year and in 1971 a road grader was purchased to help maintain the right-of-way. Long-time resident Everett Grife spent many an hour working on the 1956 grader and coaxing it up and down the road. In 1983 the old grader was replaced by Ev with a newer model which was used until the residents decided to hard surface the road. In 1990 and 1991 oil and rock chips were applied to "seal" the surface. Occasionally additional overlays of asphalt were added to repair soft areas. Resident Joe Evans discovered that using "Asphalt in a Bag" worked very well to fix small holes before they grew to tire-killer size. Finally in the Summer of 2002 the residents contributed $37,000 to the district and we had Morse Brothers lay a 3-5" layer of asphalt over the entire road.
Ted Hicks
September, 2002