After walking about 1/2 mile to the chute site at the top of Laurel Hill, all I could say is, "They couldn't possibly take their wagons down that hill!"
But they did. It's kind of hard to see in this photo but it continues steeply on down a bit more til it reaches what is now the old Mt. Hood Loop Highway. Emigrants sat in their wagons and the oxen stayed hitched as they proceeded down being slowed by ropes and trees at the top of the hill. Accounts say the chute was strewn with boulders.

Here's what the signs say about this part of the trip for the Barlow Road travelers:

"The longest hill on the whole journey from the states to Oregon." James I. Bailey
"September 24th this is a rainy morning. The roads are very bad, started early, cleared up a little about noon. Got down Laurel Hill about dark, this is the roughest and steepest Hill on the road. Got down all safe by cutting and chaining a tree behind the wagon...."
Elizabeth J. Goltra, 1853"

Oh! What a Hill!
"We looked in dismay and the cattle seemed to moan in distress. But others had descended, so must we." J. H. Brown
Carrying everything you own in a wagon over the boulders in this dangerous chute. Using ropes snubbed to trees, or somethimes dragging trees behind as brakes, emigrants managed to get wagons down these hazardous openings. This chute was just one of a eries of treacherous descents facing Barlow Road travelers as they clambered off Laurel Hill and out of the Cascades.
"While decending Hill, Grandma was sitting in the back seat of the buggies. She could not hold herself in, but fell forward and struck the ground first...Can you imagine what the mountain is like? It is one mile long and that steep we kept the hind wheels locked...."
Steward B. Eakin, 1866

This particular chute was one of several and was a milestone for once down this long hill, they were over the Cascades.