1930 race for Governor of Oregon. Joseph and his wife donated the road to the people of Oregon in 1919. The 1923 Oregon Legislative Assembly designated the path from Idaho to the Pacific Ocean as the "Old Oregon Trail" route and approved signage with a prairie schooner and oxen for motor travelers to navigate. In 1978, the entire Oregon Trail, including the Barlow Road, was named a National Historic Trail by the U.S. Congress. In 1992, the Barlow Road was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district. In 2005, part of it was incorporated into the Mount Hood Scenic Byway. The Mount Hood National Recreation Area was designated in 2009, including Barlow Pass. The Oregon Trail, Barlow Road Segment is a small segment of an alternate route, near Wemme, that was separately listed on the National Register in 1974. Also Rock Corral on the Barlow Road, a campsite on the Barlow Road near Brightwood, was also separately NRHP-listed in 1974. Today On the western side of the Cascades, U.S. Route 26 follows more or less the same route from Sandy to Government Camp; south of Government Camp, US 26 follows a valley just west of the Barlow Road's route along Barlow Creek. The route is concurrent with a few miles of the southern end of Oregon Route 35, and much of the Mount Hood Highway. The Barlow Road is intact as a dirt road in a roughly north–south stretch along Barlow Creek; other portions are pristine ruts up to deep. The easternmost part of the original Barlow Road in Wasco County traverses an unpopulated area within Mount Hood National Forest and follows small Forest Service roads and "Jeep trails", then Rock Creek Dam Road, and finally Wamic Market Road, north of the White River, from the Cascades to Tygh Valley. The areas east of Mount Hood National Forest have always been sparsely populated. Good wagon wheel rut viewing is possible at Pioneer Woman's Grave near Bennett Pass and in several other places. Much of the Clackamas County side is buried under US 26. Overall, about twenty percent of the road is still visible today. A roadside marker and trail at Laurel Hill (just west of Government Camp) provides history and access to the portion where a sixty percent grade was present in the early Barlow Road. Wagons were lowered down the hill winched by ropes