Yellowstone Trail - History

History

The Yellowstone Trail was conceived by Joseph William Parmley of Ipswich, South Dakota. In April 1912 the first step he and his local influential colleagues wanted was a 25 miles (40 km) long good road from Ipswich over to Aberdeen, also in South Dakota. By May, the intent had expanded to get a transcontinental route built, including to the popular tourist destination to the west, Yellowstone National Park.

The automobile was just becoming popular, but there were few good all weather roads, no useful long distance roads, and no government marked routes. The federal government had not been interested in building roads in the nineteenth century, except for the National Pike from Washington D.C. to the Mississippi River. Many states had constitutions that forbade “internal improvements” as unconstitutional. The Yellowstone Trail developed in parallel with the nationwide effort for internal improvements, which included building and improving roads. Only the Yellowstone Trail, the Lincoln Highway, and the National Old Trails Road were transcontinental in length and notability, out of the 250 named Auto Trails of the era.

Events

In June 1915, a timed relay race from Chicago to Seattle was held on the Trail. The 2,445 miles (3,935 km) route was won with a best time of 97 hours. There were no deaths in the race, but accidents did happen. One was in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, when a George Murphy was 'speeding recklessly' at 26 mph (42 km/h) in his Mitchell 6, en route to Menomonie from Chippewa Falls. He skidded when coming downhill around a corner, and crashed into a tree. He survived, and finished his relay segment to Menomonie in a backup car.