Monte Ne - Roads

Roads

After the Monte Ne Railroad failed, Harvey needed to find other ways for people to get to his resort. He realized the coming importance of the automobile and in 1911 he campaigned for a project he called "The Great White Way", a turnpike between Monte Ne and Muskogee, Oklahoma. Harvey Requested that a "Good Roads" meeting be held by the Commercial Club of Rogers, however they did not feel that it was their meeting because while fairly well attended hardly any Rogers businessmen were present. Harvey assessed the project would cost Rogers $5,000 without their permission or consent, and this estimate was far less than what engineers advising the Rogers businessmen believed the cost would be. Ultimately the "Great White Way" project failed, and Harvey blamed the community of Rogers for lack of support.

In 1913 he spearhead the founding of the The Ozark Trails Association (OTA) to promote the building and education of quality highway design, but not actually building or funding them. At first, he was only interested in bringing people to Monte Ne, he stated: "My Personal interest in the Ozark Trails is that they all lead to Monte Ne" However, he seems to have taken on a more egalitarian opinion of the Ozark Trails as time went on because he later said: "My inclination runs toward doing something of a progressive nature that will promote the collective good, and I have now concentrated all that inclination on carrying out a system of roads known as the Ozark Trails." The Ozark Trails Association became Harvey's most successful endeavor. Interest in the project spread and membership swelled to 7,000 delegates from states as far away as New Mexico. The group built large obelisks, listing the names of the benefactors, along the routes and trails that it sponsored. He even ran for congress on a platform of building a national highway system, but lost to John W. Tillman who had strong support in Washington County.

Interest in the group began to waver noticeably when Harvey finally stepped down as president at a 1920 convention in Pittsburg, Kansas that was attended by only 200 delegates. By the mid 1920s, highways and roads had become completely government-funded and there was no longer a need for local sponsorship. The group's system of giving them historic names and those of contributors had also become confusing and inefficient because of the myriad names and disputes over different names for the same stretch of roadway. So, the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) changed all the roadways' names to uniform numbers, despite fierce protest from the OTA. The group had lost its relevance and disbanded in 1924, but many of the roads they helped develop became part of the historic U.S. Route 66.

Another group, with no affiliation but with the same name, was created in the early 1970s to promote the maintenance of recreational trails in the Ozarks.