Introducing the Yellowstone Trail: A Good Road from Plymouth Rock to Puget Sound 1912-1930 - Softcover

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This book is for the arm-chair traveler/historian or for the adventurer who would like to drive what may be left of the Yellowstone Trail in his neck of the woods. It is the tale of daring men who in 1912 envisioned the possibility of driving across a whole county by means of a single system of connected roads. They even envisioned (gasp) a road across adjoining states or, fools that they were, a connected route across the northern tier of states from coast to coast. Few people think about the history of roads around their neighborhood or state. We all take the existence of roads for granted, and even as a right for which we pay taxes. Few of us know of the drama surrounding the establishment of roads and especially of a transcontinental road. 1912 was a year of little state funding for roads, and very limited federal funding, of few if any road maps, of dominance by railroads, and of mud holes passing for roads. Small groups of private citizens were driven by desperation to do what governments were not doing. The Yellowstone Trail Association was one of the first of those groups. Always underfunded yet optimistic, these men established, through grass roots efforts, a strong organization and a 3500 mile route across the northern tier of states. Their plan was to link existing east-west county and township roads together by persuading county boards to put their road dollars into the Yellowstone Trail and establish a definite path fir! st to the Yellowstone National Park and then across the nation. As the organization grew, state-by-state, so grew the Trail. The organization behind the Trail was founded by very small businessmen, farmers and ranchers who had no great public relations acumen. They certainly advertised, but their efforts centered upon handing out maps, running information bureaus, and persuading county boards, and then later, state offices, to build better roads.

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