While plans lay dormant to build a railroad from Grants Pass to Crescent City, a fatal stage coach accident on Hayes Hill emphasized the need for a safer means of travel to the Coast.
One afternoon in May 1911 a team of four horses burst forth in a wild run on Hayes Hill, making a wild 300-yard dash along the perilous road before overturning the stagecoach. Driver John
Lowden landed on his head. The two passengers, a blacksmith from Waldo and a businessman from Portland, emerged from the wreck alive but beaten and bruised. Rescuers found the three men and took them to nearby Love's Station where a doctor was called.
The newspaper reported that Dr. S. Loughridge began his own wild ride, breaking all automobile speed records by getting from Grants Pass to Love's Station in 45 minutes. The doctor’s car took the blacksmith and businessman back to Grants Pass after treatment, but left the stage driver behind when the doctor said he couldn’t do any more for him.
Lowden, age 56, died at Love's Station the next morning. His obituary noted his reputation as an expert harness man.
Sources: "Crescent City Stage Wrecked." Rogue River Courier 12 May 1911 [Grants Pass Oregon] : 1. Web. 13 Aug. 2015. http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn96088281/1911-05-12/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1846&index=0&date2=2013&words=JOHN+LOWDEN&searchType=advanced&sequence=0&lccn=sn96088281&proxdistance=5&rows=20&ortext=&proxt ; "John Lowden Dies." Rogue River Courier 19 May 1911 [Grants Pass Oregon] : 1. Web. 13 Aug. 2015.
