A rock cut between Goble and Goble Creek was taken out by the S. P. & S. Ry. Co. with steam shovels and the material used by them for riprap, thus making a considerable saving to the State Highway Commission. The material for the west approach to the new bridge was obtained by blasting and barring down rock from a dangerous perpendicular cliff about 1,000 feet west of the bridge, from which large rocks had fallen onto the highway. To make the highway safe it was necessary to remove this material and by using it in the bridge approach, did away with other borrow which would have been necessary. The cliff is about 200 feet high with the highway and S. P. & S. Ry. side by side at the foot, necessitating very light shots and careful work and was completed without accident to men or interruption of traffic on the railroad. [Illustration: ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER HIGHWAY NEAR GOBLE IN COLUMBIA COUNTY. GRADED AND MACADAMIZED IN 1917 AND 1918] The material for the east approach was obtained by trimming up the cut left by the railroad company. A contract for grading the cutoff was awarded to the Warren Construction Company, August 7, 1917, and work started in July, 1917. From the east end of the section to Ruben, about one mile in length, the material was handled by teams. Rock work at Ruben and at Goble was sub-let to station men. The fill across the flat between Ruben and Goble was made from side borrow, by using a steam hoisting engine, with boom and clam shell bucket. This work was done in the fall and winter and the material was light loam and sand and very wet, and did not pack very solid in the fill, therefore a strip of rock sixteen feet wide and one foot in thickness, taken from the rock cuts at either end, was placed on the fill and rolled thus making a solid base for the crushed rock macadam. The engineering work was done by A. F. Pratt, resident engineer and W. E. Eddy, assistant state highway engineer, until October 1, 1917, when it was taken over by H. C. Compton, resident engineer, under the supervision of Chas. H. Whitmore, assistant engineer. DETAILED EXPENDITURE STATEMENT--GRADING GOBLE SECTION