Yellowstone Trail

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Map of trail

Route marker

Commemorative sign at Yellowstone Trail Park in North Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

The Yellowstone Trail was the first transcontinental automobile highway through the upper tier of states in the United States. It ran from Massachusetts to Seattle. It is one of the earliest transcontinental automobile routes in the world. It had significant social, political and economic effects on either the local communities or the nation during its short life from 1912 to 1930.^{[citation needed]}

The automobile was just becoming popular but intercity roads were plagued with sand, potholes and mud and no paving. In 1912 there were few good, all weather roads, no useful long distance roads and no government marked routes. The federal government was not interested in building roads, except for the National Pike from Washington D.C. to the Mississippi River in the nineteenth century. In other cases, detractors felt that “internal improvements” were unconstitutional.^[1] The Yellowstone Trail developed in parallel with the nationwide effort to improve roads, as did 250 other named roads. All but two of those other routes were smaller, non-transcontinental in length.

Railroads had been the dominant, almost sole, method of travel. But railroads were losing their allure because of their monopolistic freight rate-setting and the inconvenience of their schedules and routes.^{[citation needed]} The privacy, autonomy, and democracy of the automobile was not to be denied. The burgeoning number of autos resulted in a demand for roads to drive them on. The burden of financing roads gradually moved from the local landowner and township up the levels of government until the federal government, the states, the counties shared the cost with the townships.

This transcontinental route was conceived by J.W. Parmley of Ipswich, South Dakota in 1912.^{[citation needed]} Parmley and his business colleagues wanted a good road from Ipswich to Aberdeen, South Dakota, 26 miles away. In a few weeks the intent had expanded to include a good road to the popular tourist destination, Yellowstone National Park. Soon, it was understood that under their leadership there was to be “a good road from Plymouth Rock to Puget Sound.”^{[citation needed]}

The creation of the Yellowstone Trail was a grassroots effort, not a governmental effort, and not the effort of a few wealthy business leaders. A headquarters for the Yellowstone Trail Association was established in Minneapolis, although meetings were held across the country with local representatives.

Membership in the Trail Association was offered to delegates and towns all along the route. These people paid dues to have their towns advertised in Trail literature to draw tourists. They often headed local volunteer groups to mark the route with either yellow stones or the official yellow circle and black arrow of the Association. State or regional meetings were held.

The Yellowstone Trail Association did not actually build roads. It lobbied for "good roads" in every level of government. It provided instructions to local people for the construction and maintenance of roads. It promoted cross-country tourist traffic, marked the route of the Trail, provided the first maps of the Trail, and generally raised the interest in using the automobile for other than local travel. It was an organization composed of businessmen/Chamber of Commerce people in little towns who wished to boost their town's economy by being on a well-used road. Trail Days were held with picnics, etc. to make the work of "dragging" the dirt road more fun. Stores would close so all would go out to participate.

Original red brick section of the Yellowstone Trail in Redmond, Washington.

The Yellowstone Trail Association had small town chapters and state chapters to oversee routing. Local "routing committee men" went out into their counties to find the best roads available and then talk county governments into spending tax dollars on that route. They then persuaded little towns into joining the organization and to pay a small fee to be included on the route publicity.

Usually, roads near railways were followed, usually the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad and the Northern Pacific Railroad in the West. The railroads had already selected the most efficient routes and local roads already existed near the railways.

In June 1915 a relay race against time was held on the Trail from Chicago to Seattle in 97 hours. There were no deaths in that 2445 miles, but one of the several accidents happened in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. George Murphy was driving his Mitchell 6 from nearby Chippewa Falls, speeding recklessly at 26 mph, when he skidded coming around the corner and down the hill from Germania Street to Madison Street. He crashed into a tree but survived. The backup or “trailer” car finished George’s allotted distance to Menomonie.

In 1918, Wisconsin became the first state, or anyplace in the world, to number its highways. ^[2] ^[3] In 1926 the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) established and numbered interstate routes (US route numbers), selecting the best roads in each state which could be connected to provide a rational network of "federal" highways.

With the numbering of roads, the need for names decreased. And the need for colored markers to mark the named roads ceased. Then came the Great Depression. Merchants and towns could no longer afford to pay dues to a road association. State maps replaced the need for associations. The Yellowstone Trail and all other named trails lost their allure to other modern U.S Routes by 1930.

Through all of this, the Yellowstone Trail Association persisted, acting much as the AAA does today. They published maps, brochures, and established information bureaus in busy hotels, and set up tents along busy places on the Trail to hand out these materials. People telephoned the Trail Association before they planned a trip to see what roads were passable. These bureaus also provided local information, much as Convention and Visitors Bureaus do today.

In the eastern United States, the Yellowstone Trail Association had little influence on road building and functioned primarily as a travel bureau, enticing tourists west along the Trail. A few streets and roads in the East retain the Yellowstone Trail name, and some sections of the Trail are still gravel roads, but the road markers and the Yellowstone Trail Garages are gone.