M1369: Kennon Road Postcard

Postcard Size: 4"x5.5"
Postcard Type: View card
Printed by: JMC Press, Inc., Quezon City
Purchased at Goodwill Bookstore
The postcard shows the zigzag part of the Kennon Road, one of the main highways that leads to Baguio City. Benguet Road was ordered built by American Governor General William Cameron Forbes in 1901. The road was renamed Kennon Road after U.S. Army Colonel Lyman N. Kennon who was its final builder.

Kennon Road was opened for regular service on March 27, 1905 with the cost as of November 1, 1905, amounting to $1,966,847.05.

The back of the postcard reads:
Zigzag View, along Kennon Road leading to the City of Baguio

M1369: Kennon Road Postcard

According to records, between 2,300 to 4,000 workers were employed in the building of the road, all of different nationalities— American, Hawaiian, Indian, Mexican, Chinese, German, Irish, English, Swedish, French, Japanese and, of course, Filipino. Records also showed that less than half the number of workers survived the building of the road. Aside from accidents, many too, died of malaria.

In addition to the roadbed itself, Colonel Kennon constructed 40 bridges—two of which were made of steel, the others of wood. Except for the use dynamite to blast out solid rock, work was done usually with ordinary picks and shovels.

There are beautiful and scenic sites along Kennon Road such as the Bridal Veil Falls, Bued River gorge, Twin Peaks, Colorado Falls, some pedestrian suspension bridges, the sculptured limestone lion, and the spectacular view from the deck at the upper end of Kennon Road.

SOURCES:
The Drive Up Kennon Road
Kennon Road and Baguio