Route of The Lincoln Highway - Utah

Utah

The Lincoln Highway entered Utah on modern Interstate 80 and followed this to Salt Lake City.

In western Utah, the original chosen alignment headed west from Salt Lake City to Timpie in order to run around the north side of the Stansbury Mountains, largely along present State Route 171 and State Route 138. From Timpie it turned south roughly along present State Route 196, running to Orr's Ranch (40°18′23″N 112°44′06″W / 40.306334°N 112.734897°W / 40.306334; -112.734897), now a bit north of the east gate of the Dugway Proving Ground).

Between Orr's Ranch and the north edge of the Dugway Range, the original highway ran through the current Dugway Proving Ground around the north side of the Dugway Range (40°02′13″N 113°13′23″W / 40.037°N 113.223°W / 40.037; -113.223). From there it headed south to the Black Rock Hills, joining the old Pony Express route there (39°52′48″N 113°15′14″W / 39.880°N 113.254°W / 39.880; -113.254). The Lincoln Highway then went west past Fish Springs (39°50′53″N 113°24′40″W / 39.848°N 113.411°W / 39.848; -113.411) and Callao (39°53′53″N 113°42′32″W / 39.898°N 113.709°W / 39.898; -113.709) and across the Deep Creek Range through the Overland Canyon (40°04′01″N 113°49′44″W / 40.067°N 113.829°W / 40.067; -113.829) to Ibapah (40°02′10″N 113°58′59″W / 40.036°N 113.983°W / 40.036; -113.983), crossing into Nevada soon after. This route is now known by the names of Simpson Springs-Callao Road, Pony Express Road, Overland Canyon Road, Lower Goldhill Road, Ibapah Road and Willow Road.

Around 1919 a new route, known as the Goodyear Cutoff, and named after Goodyear Tire and Rubber, a major donor to the project, was built across desert that is now largely the Dugway Proving Ground. Around the same time, a realignment was made further east. Thus the new route split from the old at Mills Junction and ran south on present State Route 36 through Tooele and Stockton to St. John, where it turned west on present State Route 199 and Redding Road, crossing the Stansbury Mountains at Johnson Pass. At Orr's Ranch it rejoined the old road west to County Well (now the Dog Area of the Dugway Proving Ground), where the Goodyear Cutoff began.

The Goodyear Cutoff cut largely across the Great Salt Lake Desert, hitting high areas at Granite Mountain (40°10′26″N 113°17′46″W / 40.174°N 113.296°W / 40.174; -113.296) and Black Point (40°05′06″N 113°40′05″W / 40.085°N 113.668°W / 40.085; -113.668), and then passing through the Deep Creek Mountains via Gold Hill (40°09′58″N 113°49′52″W / 40.166°N 113.831°W / 40.166; -113.831) and rejoining the older route about halfway from Gold Hill to Ibapah (40°06′18″N 113°51′50″W / 40.105°N 113.864°W / 40.105; -113.864).

However, Utah did not care much for the Lincoln Highway, instead preferring the Victory Highway via Wendover (present Interstate 80). Nevada and northern California also favored that route, northern California because it would assure that travelers did not take the Midland Trail to Los Angeles, and so the federal aid route chosen under the Federal Highway Act of 1921 was the Victory Highway, separate from the Lincoln Highway between Mills Junction, Utah and Wadsworth, Nevada.

Thus the Goodyear Cutoff was never paved, and was closed to the public in the 1940s when the Dugway Proving Ground was formed. In late 1926 the system of United States Numbered Highways was assigned, and U.S. Route 40 was assigned to the Victory Highway through western Utah. The next year the Lincoln Highway was rerouted to use the Wendover route, turning south on an unnumbered route (numbered U.S. Route 50 ca. 1929 and now U.S. Route 93 Alternate and U.S. Route 93) at West Wendover, Nevada and rejoining the old route at Schellbourne before turning west on U.S. Route 50 at Ely.