THE NATIONAL OLD TRAILS ROAD
PART 4: From Named Trails to U.S. Numbered Highways
The Willite Proposal
Concern about the condition of the western half of the National Old Trails Road prompted Judge Lowe to make a bold proposal. He recommended that the portion of the road from Trinidad, Colorado, to Los Angeles be reconstructed with Willite, which he called “THE GREATEST DISCOVERY IN THE HISTORY OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION.” That was the subtitle of the association’s bulletin of August 1922. The cover advised:
Read Openmindedly and Learn How the Best Road
Ever Devised Can Be Built for the Least Cost and Smallest Maintenance
Judge Lowe included a Foreword dated August 29, 1922, in the bulletin:
My apology, if apology is needed, for announcing our purpose to build the remaining unbuilt portion of the National Old Trails Road, from the Mississippi to the Pacific, with what is known as the “Willite” process is because, during all these years in which we have been engaged promoting the N. O. T. Road as an interstate road by all the states through which it runs, and educating the people up to the point of actual construction, we have necessarily observed the processes used in road construction and found fault with nearly all of them.
About eight years ago our attention was called to “Willite” by its great discoverer, Colonel H. P. Willis, one of the ablest engineers that New York has ever had. After spending millions of dollars in building roads in that state, none of which met the requirements that he thought they should, he resigned and devoted four long years to experimentation, with the result that he found by certain combinations of asphalt, chemically prepared, mixed with certain other ingredients, it made an ideal material for road construction. I had much correspondence with him prior to his untimely death.
I have watched it in all its phases, its tribulations and its successes. I have set down by the side of the magnificent highway, known as the Los Angeles County Highway Harbor Boulevard, at [a slough] really an arm of the sea, where the boulevard crosses it, and watched with great interest the intense traffic thereon. At this point the water stands permanently on either side of the road. No one had been found who had nerve enough to undertake the job of building any kind of a road across that slough. It is some sixteen miles from Los Angeles down to the harbor. It has now been completed and thrown open to traffic for the last three years. It is carrying ten thousand tons of traffic per day, more than is carried on any other stretch of road of like distance in the United States. Extravagant as it may sound, traffic really seems to improve it. No other road in the United States, no matter what material has been used in its construction, could stand up under any such traffic as this. More than that, no other road would carry half this tonnage and live six months.
Harbour Boulevard opened to traffic on July 1, 1919. In a photograph included in the bulletin, Judge Lowe referred to the boulevard as the western terminus of the National Old Trails Road. The foreward continued:
This process is entirely out of its experimental stage. Whilst we were convinced of its supreme value years ago, yet we waited patiently until all known tests could be applied, and until it had proven beyond any per adventure that it was the idea that Colonel Willis conceived it to be.
Now that the National Old Trails Road is completely constructed from Washington to St. Louis in sections perhaps of all known types of construction, and the balance of the way has been approved for construction by the states through which it passes, we think the time has arrived when we should not only build the remainder of the road of the very highest type known to men, having at the same time due regard to its permanency, its cheapness of maintenance, and to its cost of construction.
It will perhaps cost little more than one-half the price of any other type of road which can be built; its maintenance is insignificant; its resiliency is not the least among its qualities; it is perfectly smooth and avoids bumps, ridges and cracks which make traveling a burden over almost any other type of road. The best road ever devised is the earth road, except for dust when dry, and mud when wet. Willite has every good quality of the earth road, and eliminates both dust and mud, and approximates permanency more nearly than any other known type of road.
We have given the most careful and patient thought to this matter that a layman can possibly give to any subject, and we are willing to risk whatever reputation we have, and are prepared to meet the criticisms that will be provoked by taking a stand for completing the road with this material.
The booklet consisted of correspondence in support of Willite pavements, which Judge Lowe urged patient reading:
If you haven’t the patience, the time and energy to make an effort to inform yourself upon this great subject, then you will not exert the influence that you should, or reap the benefits that you are entitled to receive from having been a member of this Association. We are now on the home stretch and a “pull all together” will land our work on the bright sands of the Pacific, a complete highway from ocean to ocean.
One word additional as to maintenance: A great engineer has said that, “Maintenance is the biggest word in road construction,” and highway builders are worrying greatly about raising maintenance funds; and well they may if the usual high type or low types of roads are to be built, for the repair accounts of any such roads will run from $300.00 to $500.00 per annum and up. It is a crime to build such roads. Take a five-year period, and if the maintenance cost be $300.00 per annum, in five years it will be $1,500.00, or five per cent on $30,000.00 per mile — and at the end of that time probably will have to be rebuilt. No road, the maintenance of which cost so much, is worth building.
No rigid, hard surfaced road, no matter what the material may be, will meet the requirements of modern traffic. The nearer it approaches nature’s type, the better it will be. The time will come when no intelligent engineer or Highway Board will approve a rigid, brittle, hard surfaced road.
And mark the prediction (although not a prophet and not even an engineer), the time will come, even though it may be delayed for some years, when this Road from beginning to end will be constructed of “Willite” pavement, as will every other worthwhile road.
In June 1921, Highway Engineer and Contractor carried an article stating that the Harbor Boulevard paving in Los Angeles “was one of the first paving jobs put through in Los Angeles for which Willite was specified”:
After having been subjected to heavy motor-truck and passenger-automobile traffic for more than 2 years there appears no evidence of deterioration at this date. That, at least was my impression on making a brief inspection of that pavement in April this year. [The pavement] is about 1 mile in length but was laid in three sections, crossing two sloughs and one narrow swamp. It consists of 2-course Willite, 5 ins. thick, laid upon a sand-and-loam fill 6 ft. deep. The sand dunes in that locality were drawn upon, not only as material for making the fills, but for sand required in making the paving mixture . . . .
The manner in which this type of pavement is meeting the severe tests of traffic on Harbor boulevard undoubtedly has won for it a recognition that is assuring its adoption on other highways.
Calls for bids in the city and county of Los Angeles usually cite Willite “among those for which proposals will be considered”:
Los Angeles county and city highway and street improvements performed within the last 6 months include considerable Willite paving. [Scott, W. A., “Willite Pavement Construction in California,” Highway Engineer and Contractor, June 1921, pages 47-48]
Although Judge Lowe included mainly correspondence in the bulletin, he also reprinted an article from the August 1922 issue of Highway Engineer and Contractor titled “Willite Pavement Construction in California.” The article, written by C. S. Reed, president of the Western Willite Road Construction Company in Los Angeles, explained that in June 1919, the Los Angeles Highway Department chose to employ Willite for “a supreme test” over four old earth-fills on Harbor Boulevard:
County Road Commissioner F. H. Joyner at that time stated that if Willite would stand up under the heavy pound of traffic on this road under terrific heat conditions in the summer, no one need ever have to worry about it elsewhere — that he considered it the heaviest traffic in America.
The old earth-fills were about 30 feet high, with lakes on each side thereof. This sub-grade was properly prepared and rolled with a 15-ton, 3-wheel roller. Wooden curbs were installed on each side of the road. Willite foundation 3 inches thick was laid thereon, raked, spread and rolled, on top of which Willite 2-inch top course was laid and rolled with 5 and 8-ton tandem rollers until no more compression was shown under the wheels of same . . . .
Willite pavement laid with tempered asphalt binder has been proven immune to the hottest summer temperatures and heaviest traffic loads — never a yard has waved anywhere. It cannot creep, shove or run under traffic.
The highway was opened in June 1919:
A few difficulties developed which were immediately remedied, and since the latter part of June 1919, the road has remained open to traffic every day in the year. It is now three years old and carries over 10,000 tons’ traffic per day, consisting of the heaviest load units we have ever seen. Loads of 5, 10, 15 and 20 tons on motor trucks and trailers are more common than otherwise. This heavy traffic is carried between Los Angeles and San Pedro, the ocean port where the big Pacific liners are loaded and unloaded. The only limit on traffic is the number of tons the wheels will carry.
Engineers who were very skeptical of the promises made for Willite pavements were “now enthusiastic supporters of Willite.”
After discussing technical details, Reed concluded:
In view of the foregoing, we cannot see how it is possible for any progressive state, county or city highway department to refuse to investigate Willite merits and claims to the fullest extent. If they sincerely have the interest of their taxpayers at heart, they certainly will do it.
We have at this time laid in the state of California over 60 different Willite jobs showing a total yardage laid of 616,197 sq. yds., and contracts and proceedings under way for nearly that much more. These jobs are the absolute proof of the claims of Willite, because they have all been obtained upon the actual showing and record established here in the face of the most bitter competition, and if Willite was not everything claimed for it, we would have been out of business a long time ago.
Harry P. Willis had died suddenly on May 3, 1918, at the age of 45. Willis, a civil engineer and chemist, had begun work for the State of New York’s surveyors’ division as a leveler working on highway, canal and boundary surveys. He entered the State’s engineering department through civil service and served as resident engineer for the State Highway Department and became Chief Engineer in 1909. In 1911, he resigned to devote time to his patented process for road construction. [“Death of H. P. Willis,” Good Roads, May 18, 1918, page 260; “Obituary,” Engineering News-Record, May 23, 1918, page 1021]
Willis had written a paper on his discovery that was published, posthumously, in the July 1918 issue of Better Roads and Streets. The paper began:
The efficiency of “Willite” has now been proven by over four years’ wear in the Borough of Queens, City of New York, and to the satisfaction of engineers and road builders from all over the world who have made an examination into the texture and method of laying this piece of pavement. The result here obtained may be said to be due to the recognition and utilization of four important principles; namely First, that the cost of maintenance of present day road construction makes road improvement an expensive luxury and almost prohibitive. Second, that in order to obtain full benefits of the earth as a foundation, the foundation for any road or pavement must be semi-elastic. Third, that the wearing course must be dense, tough and semi-elastic rather than brittle and granular, and be so bonded as to be absolutely proof against moisture, heat, cold, disintegration under traffic, slipperiness dust [sic], or noise. Fourth, that the foundation and wearing course should be joined together and consist of a solid integral mass having the same co-efficient of elasticity.
The first principle “did not fully dawn upon the writer until he had spent nearly sixteen years in actual road construction, and had been a large factor in the expenditure of nearly one-hundred million dollars appropriated by the State of New York in the improvement of its highway system.” Willis left the State “determined, if possible, to develop a type of highway construction which would render this excessive cost of maintenance unnecessary.” This, be believed, he had accomplished with Willite.
He explained the second principle:
As mother earth is the foundation of all construction, it stands to reason that the most effective paving foundation is one which transmits to the earth, in the most economical and efficient manner the loads coming from above and at the same time withstand efficiently the heaving effect of frost pressure from below.
As for the wearing course, he wrote:
It has been known for many years that Sicilian Rock Asphalt gives the best results as a wearing course but the price makes it prohibitive. One street in New York City was paved with this material over thirty years ago and yet to-day shows no perceptible wear.
Willis had studied the chemical properties of Sicilian Rock Asphalt. Willite was the result. He “tempered both wearing course and foundation so as to more fully carry out the principles just discussed”:
The final result was a pavement dense, tought and semi-elastic rather than one which is brittle and granular; one which is absolutely proof against moisture, heart, cold, disintegration under traffic, slipperiness, dust and noise.
Finally, the result would be more efficient “through having the wearing course and foundation thoroughly bonded and of both having the same co-efficient of elasticity”:
Would it not have been more efficient and economical to have had the bottom three inches composed of a material nearly three times as tough as concrete and to that, have absolutely bonded a two-inch wearing course, tough and more dense than ordinary sheet asphalt but with the same co-efficient of elasticity as the foundation? Then no concrete base would be required. The writer answers the question in the affirmative and it is exactly the “Willite” way of accomplishing much more efficient results.
One of the most overlooked features of pavement design is that “it should consist of a solid integral mass”:
The day of weakly bonded surfacings, such as macadam, asphalt macadam, and concrete is over. First came the auto tire to suck the binder out of the surface but more recently has appeared the auto truck whose jar and vibration loosens the larger particles from the binder so that the effect is now upon both. The more general use of, and the increased loads upon auto trucks is certainly going to increase the amount of damage done by them. There are but three ways to meet this evil. One is to use a binder of greater strength, the second is to decrease the size of the particles composing the filler; and the third is to incorporate the binder with the filler and set the former just as water sets cement; except to make the resultant mixture tough and semi-elastic rather than brittle. The first of the above mentioned remedies is neither practical nor economical; the second is now being tried but with only partial success; the third is the “Willite” way which is practical, economic, and guaranteed to meet every requirement of present day traffic conditions.
That concluded Willis’s article, but Better Roads and Streets added a paragraph by an anonymous engineer written while the European war was underway:
I see that I owe no apology for the short time taken in bringing this paper to your notice. Mr. Willis was with the New Jersey Highway Commission the following day and on my calling at his office, a week ago this morning, I learned that he had been found dead in his bed two hours previously. I therefore consider this really as his last message to-day, a voice from the grave.
After my forty-six years of practical experience as a highway engineer, I have no hesitancy in endorsing this improved method of bituminous road construction as I not only saw the work being done in the Boro of Queens, City of New York, three years ago, but this week went over eighty thousand square yards of “Willite” laid at Kingston, New York.
I have also since leaving New York seen the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Chemist’s analyses of my friend, the Hon. Logan Wallen [sic] Page, director of Public Roads and Rural Engineering, U.S. Department of Agriculture; these were so satisfactory that I feel that the country is to be congratulated on another method of helping to “win the war” by this system involving both the saving of labor and material and also money, which can be invested in Liberty Bonds. [“Development of Willite,” Better Roads and Streets, July 1918, pages 264-265]
Judge Lowe returned to the subject in his December 1922 bulletin. He began by quoting an editorial in a Kansas City newspaper (October 27, 1922) noting the demand for engineering skill to “point the way to less expensive and more serviceable roads.” Can roads be more durable, the editorial asked, or “must the new road building era be accompanied by traffic laws limiting the load that may be both impractical and difficult of enforcement.” Judge Lowe replied that it was “high time” to employ engineering skills to avoid lower weight limits, which he said are not only impractical and difficult, but “illogical and contradicts every purpose of road construction,” namely to carry the traffic:
But even if it is true that highway authorities do lack this knowledge, yet we may rest assured that somewhere, locked in his laboratory, a chemical engineer will solve this great problem.
Millions of Federal Aid have been appropriated to the construction of dirt roads — gravel, macadam, etc. — other millions to roads which will not serve the traffic — and millions more to maintenance of such roads. This must stop.
He suggested comparing New York, California, and Illinois:
In New York one of the greatest State Engineers she ever had resigned because the roads that were being built would neither stand up nor carry the load. In California they have failed, and they are now calling for an additional bond issue of sixty-five million dollars to save the eighty million dollars already put into inefficient roads. In Illinois they are pleading for legislation to protect the roads against the traffic.
We, who have had occasion to look into this question most closely, are fully persuaded that it has been solved, by Colonel Harry Parsons Willis, former State Engineer of New York. After four years of intensive study and experimentation in his laboratory, this great chemical engineer made, what he believed, was the full solution of this great problem. His discovery has convinced many other engineers that roads can be built at a “reasonable cost” — a cost well within the ability of the people of any part of the country — roads, the maintenance of which will not be burdensome, and will meet the demands of traffic, and carry any load which commerce may demand.
He emphasized in bold:
Don’t lets build roads which require traffic laws to regulate the load, but build the roads to accommodate the traffic. [sic]
He referred to his proposal for employing Willite on the National Old Trails Road from Trinidad, Colorado to Los Angeles. This portion of the road was “about one thousand three hundred miles, twenty feet in width,” and it could be redone in Willite for “about fourteen to fifteen thousand dollars per mile.” He explained:
This is because fully eighty-five per cent of the aggregates that go into the construction of the road through that territory are so convenient and so valuable for the purpose as to make this possible. No monopoly or trust can possibly obtain on this eighty-five per cent.
Wonder if this is the reason some “road authorities” hesitate to adopt or recommend Willite construction for Federal aid?
The benefits of Willite in Colorado, Missouri, and Kansas would be the same, “except the eighty-five per cent of material may be a little more expensive to transport in these states.”
Judge Lowe suggested:
Build maintenance into the road construction and no maintenance fund will be required. What more can be asked? No traffic laws limiting the load are needed. No legislation necessary to provide a great maintenance fund, and yet build a road so resilient that to ride upon [it] is a pleasure, instead of a torture — roads that automobile traffic really improves instead of destroys — roads so resilient that it meets and absorbs the shock of rubber tired vehicles instead of destroying them. In short, roads that come as near the ideal as has yet been conceived by the mind of man.
To this end we propose during the year 1923 to hold three National conventions, one perhaps at Kansas City, one either in Colorado or New Mexico, and one possibly in Washington, Pennsylvania. The sole purpose of these conventions will be to put the unbuilt portions of this road under contract during the year, and to urge that that portion of the road already built on the eastern side of the Mississippi and now ready, or soon to be ready for resurfacing, no matter what material has been used, shall be resurfaced with the same material, because we are convinced that this material, what criticism may be made upon it, is ideal for resurfacing on old foundations. Two inches of Willite on such a foundation will last almost interminably. We do not approve throwing away, as of no account, roads already built. On the contrary, we should save and utilize all the salvage possible.
As he indicated in the bulletin, Judge Lowe was concerned that “there is danger of this Association committing itself to work outside the legitimate object and purpose of this organization.” For that reason, he had asked Charles Henry Davis, his friend and long-time associate from the National Highways Association. On October 17, 1922, Davis replied:
I want to assure you that the National Highways Association, as such, and I personally, will back you in your plans for paving the National Old Trail Road from St. Louis west to the Pacific Coast with any kind of paving that you now decide upon, or that you may in future advocate.
You as President of the National Old Trails Road can at any time, and do, advocate a particular pavement for the completion of the National Old Trails Road. This is your act. You have a right to do this from every point of view, and you will be supported in this right by your directors if they are solely guided by the needs of the National Old Trails Road and are not themselves individual exponents of a particular pavement. The National Highways Association, and I personally as President thereof, can support your efforts for the paving of the National Old Trails Road with such pavement as you select, without in any manner violating the principles that guide our Associations as enunciated above.
Davis closed by noting that “the source of much satisfaction and pleasure to me that I had the opportunity of seeing you when in Kansas City recently”:
You are not a day older in spirit than when I last saw you in Kansas City in 1917. It is men like you that make our country great and what it ought to be.
Judge Lowe reported that the association’s directors, with one exception, “unqualifiedly endorse our position.” The exception involved “a very mild criticism, more of a technical character than anything else.” He did not have the space to reprint all the correspondence, but did include “some brief extracts which, except that they are entirely too complimentary to your President, seem to cover the entire question.”
One of the excerpts was from C. S. Reed, the head of Willite’s Los Angeles office:
I am particularly interested in the National Old Trails Road as shown from Trinidad, Colorado, down through Santa Fe, New Mexico, through Arizona to Needles, California, and through the Mojave Desert into Los Angeles. In those three States billions of tons of the highest quality desert sandy aggregates are to be found on a job with which a most wonderful Willite highway could be built, which would work inconceivable economy . . . .
On that particular section of Willite highway, thirteen hundred miles in length, a saving could be made of approximately $10,000,000, and at the same time build the finest and highest type of highway known in the world.
Judge Lowe explained he was not “‘blowing bubbles’ nor chasing rainbows.” Willite had been subject to “the severest tests in unfriendly laboratories.” For example, the Industrial Testing Laboratory of Los Angeles had concluded from its tests that the additives provided by the Willite formula had the effect of “giving them greater resistance to water and increased toughness, greater resistance to load . . . and longer life.” Judge added, “What more would you ask?”
He closed this essay:
The members of this association, living in other states, I am sure will take no offense nor make any objection if we close this bulletin by taking off our hat and making our profoundest bow to Arthur M. Hyde, Governor of Missouri, and to the splendid Highway Board he appointed, to-wit: Col. Theodore Gary, Chairman; Murray Carleton, C. D. Mathews, and S. S. Connett, for the splendid accomplishments already made. Missouri has been practically two states, because it was divided by a mighty river.
I think there have been just two bridges of any consequence, both privately owned toll bridges, one at St. Charles, on the extreme eastern side of the state, and one at Kansas City. Already bond issues have been carried in addition to the sixty million state road bonds; contracts are being let for four additional FREE bridges, one at Lexington, one at Waverly, one at Glasgow and one at Boonville, all of which connect directly with the National Old Trails Road.
I know of no state in the union which has risen to such great opportunities, and is carrying forward such a magnificent program of internal improvements as this.
Whether any segment of the National Old Trails Road was rebuilt with Willite is unknown. However, from the start of the Federal-aid highway program, Logan Page had objected to the many patented and proprietary pavement designs available for work. And he put his concerns into the regulations for implementation of the program. As revised in 1919, Regulation 8 (“Construction Work and Labor”) included:
Sec. 4. No part of the money apportioned under the act shall be used, directly or indirectly, to pay or to reimburse a State, county, or local subdivision for the payment of any premium or royalty on any patented or proprietary material, specification, process, or type of construction unless purchased or obtained on open actual competitive bidding at the same or a less cost than unpatented articles or methods equally suitable for the same purpose.
This limitation on the use of Federal-aid highway funds reduced the likelihood that the National Old Trails Road would be improved with Willite or other patented or proprietary processes.
Motoring Pleasure
In January 1923, The New York Times carried an article by architect Newton C. Bond describing his 10,353-mile trip, with wife and 14-year old daughter, through 27 States. “Only the perfection of the automobile and the great improvement in roads make such a tour possible,” he wrote.
After traveling around the country, the three left Oregon to cross into northern California:
When entering California by automobile you are expected to register within twenty-four hours, and you must have your registration from your own State with you. They issue a free permit for you to tour California, good for ninety days.
After touring the northern and central parts of the State, they reached Los Angeles, which served as their base for travels in southern California:
While here put your car into a service station and have it thoroughly gone over preparatory to your return. A breakdown in the desert is rather unpleasant.
When they were ready to head home, they took the National Old Trails Road to the East Coast:
Upon leaving Los Angeles we traveled over the old Santa Fe trail through Pasadena, San Bernardino, over the Cajon Pass and down to Hesperia . . . .
The road, Bond reported, had been fine to that point, but from there to Las Vegas, New Mexico, “we found about 700 miles of very rough roads. Don’t figure on averaging much over fifteen miles an hour”:
We made an early start from Barstow so as to be sure and make Needles before dark. The trail lies across the Mojave Desert for 170 miles. From Needles we crossed into Arizona at Topock then through the mining towns of Oatman and Goldroads. They lie in the Black Mountains. Here we found another real climb over a good road, but with a few hair-raising turns.
Our route took us to Seligman, Ash Fork, Williams to Maine Station. At this point we took the side trip of sixty-four miles north to the Grand Canyon. Nothing we have ever seen or expect to see can compare with this wonderful work of nature.
We returned to the Santa Fe trail at Maine Station by the same route, then east to Flagstaff, where the Lowell Observatory is located. Just eleven miles beyond Flagstaff we visited the cliff dwellings, then on to Meteor Mountain, forty-four miles east of Flagstaff. A large meteor is supposed to have hit the earth and buried itself at this point, leaving a crater-like opening approximately one-half mile across and three hundred feet deep. From here it is twenty-one miles to Winslow.
The next town is Holbrook, Ariz. Where you have the choice of two routes. We were routed through the petrified forest to Springerville and this is called by the Southern California Automobile Club the better route. The other route from Holbrook is through the Painted Desert to Gallup, N.M., and is approximately ninety miles shorter. I can hardly imagine any route with worse roads than the Springerville route, but if the other route is worse you have ninety miles less of it to drive.
These routes come together at Isleta, N.M., then on to Albuquerque and Santa Fe. About twenty miles east of Santa Fe we hit La Bajada Grade, very steep, and in less than three miles there are twenty-three hairpin turns. A large car must back up in order to get around some of these turns.
Next we arrive at Las Vegas, N.M., then over the Raton Pass to Trinidad, Col. The road from Trinidad to La Junta, Colo., is full of chuck holes and very dusty. The roads from here to Kansas City and St. Louis, Mo., are dirt roads, mostly over level country and very good. If you get caught in a rainy spell in Missouri, content yourself wherever you are, as it will be impossible to travel. Missouri is noted for its poor roads. From St. Louis we continued on the International [sic] Old Trails through Indianapolis, Columbus, Wheeling, Hagerstown, and Baltimore.
From Baltimore, they continued to New York via Philadelphia. [Bond, Newton C., “See United States by Motor — Pleasure in Continental Tour,” The New York Times, January 7, 1923, page XXX14]
Motor Routes From the Mississippi
Later that year, Sunset Magazine discussed road conditions for the main routes into the Western States. The article began:
Ten years ago, the successful completion of a transcontinental motor trip was an event chronicled in the daily papers; as a rule such a journey was undertaken by an expedition of several machines accompanied by a truck carrying spare parts and a young machine shop for emergency repairs. This year probably 40,000 machines will travel from the Mississippi to the Rockies and beyond; thousands of them will be driven by women and few of them will be delayed on the way by any cause except their own defects. All of which indicates the size of the tremendous road-building job the Far West, having half the territory and one-tenth of the country’s population, accomplished in the last decade.
The article discussed the condition of several named trails, including the Pacific Highway parallel to the coastline. “The Pacific Highway is so nearly completed, it is so well marked and sign-posted that its full length can be traversed by strangers without the help of maps or printed directions.”
For east-west routes, the Lincoln Highway is “the best improved of the three routes here described.” In Utah, the State had refused to improve the road for 4 years in a lengthy dispute with the Lincoln Highway Association. “Rather than tackle this stretch of rough going, most of the tourists prefer to go southwest via the Arrowhead Trail to Los Angeles, or northwest over the historic Oregon Trail through southern Idaho and Oregon to the Coast.”
(The dispute related to selection of Federal-aid primary roads between Nevada and Utah. The Lincoln Highway Association wanted its route chosen across western Utah, but Utah officials chose the parallel Victory Highway/Wendover Cutoff between Utah and Nevada instead of the Lincoln Highway route through difficult terrain. The dispute eventually went to Secretary of Agriculture Wallace, who held a public hearing on the topic on May 14, 1923. He concluded that by law, he could act only on proposals from the State highway department, thus ruling in the favor of the Utah State Road Commission’s proposal. [Knowlton, Ezra C., History of Highway Development in Utah, Utah Department of Transportation, 1967, pages 180-191]
Next was the Yellowstone Trail. “Like the other two, the Yellowstone Trail is not a fast road when it rains in Dakota.” But some portions of it were in better shape. “From Spokane to Seattle or Portland the Trail is a real highway, the drive across the Cascades or along the Columbia river having few equals.”
The article also covered the western half of the National Old Trails Road:
The National Old Trails route traverses Kansas, a corner of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and reaches the Pacific at Los Angeles. It has been improved throughout its entire length and as a rule is kept in good condition. In Kansas there are many miles of difficult driving during wet weather; in Colorado the road has been graded and graveled for most of its length; in New Mexico there are still a few rough stretches, but during the last three years the road has been widened and graded across the mountain passes leading into and out of the valley of the Rio Grande, thereby soothing the nerves of the flat-country motorists.
In Arizona a great deal of work has been done on this route, but of course the sparsely settled state has not had the means to improve every portion of the Trail. Even in wealthy California the desert portion of the route between Needles and the San Bernardino mountains has not been paved, though it is always kept in good condition. The mountain stretches on this route are principally in New Mexico; elsewhere it traverses a plateau country with gradual approaches to the summits.
Having covered three of the main transcontinental highways, the article concluded:
To sum up: A transcontinental motor trip no longer is a hazardous expedition. The careful driver with a reliable machine, good tires and brakes can undertake the journey without extra equipment and enjoy the trip if he takes his time and inquires at the numerous information bureaus about the road conditions ahead.
Heave away! All clear! Let’s go! [“Motor Routes from the Mississippi to the Rockies and the Pacific Coast,” Sunset Magazine, June 1923, pages 36-37]
Across the Mojave Desert
Motor West reported in 1923 on increasing traffic into California on the National Old Trails Road:
Early in July, traveling in caravans at night for coolness, swarms of motor tourists were arriving in California daily on the National Old Trails route, passing through San Bernardino. A count at Daggett in Mojave Desert showed 310 cars from 36 states, passing through Arizona via Needles. It was record travel.
The night caravans number 20 to 40 cars. The camping grounds at Needles, Daggett, Barstow and Camp Cajon — the fine camp in Cajon Pass, near San Bernardino — are said to be crowded every night. [“Tourists Pouring Into California,” Motor West, July 15, 1923, page 29]
In the winter of 1923, the California Highway Commission created District VIII that included San Bernardino County, Riverside County, and Imperial County. E. O. Sullivan was the District VIII Engineer, with headquarters in San Bernardino. In October 1923, the State took over the eastern end of the National Old Trails Road, relieving San Bernardino County of responsibility for maintenance and construction of the route.
The November 1959 and March 1960 issues of Profiles magazine, published by the California Department of Public Works, contained Sullivan’s “Reminiscences,” including:
“District VIII was formed in 1923. District VIII consisted of all of San Bernardino, Riverside and Imperial Counties. The gas tax had gone into effect and it was realized that something had to be done for the interstate connections. I came to San Bernardino as District Engineer. Mr. R. M. Mortan was Chief Engineer, and he instructed me to concentrate the energies of the District on passable connections to the Arizona and Nevada borders at the earliest possible time.”
“. . . the principle road entering California was the Needles road.” “The present road location to Las Vegas had not yet been conceived. The road to Blythe was a mere trail. The road to Yuma, from the edges of the cultivated area in Imperial Valley to the Sand Hills, consisted of tracks in the sand with an 8-foot plank road across the Sand Hills and two deep ruts from Sand Hills to Yuma.”
“. . . Between Barstow and Needles, the County had at one time attempted to ‘oil’ the road but the ‘oil’ had long since disappeared except for one stretch, 8-foot wide about 10 miles near Essex . . . .”
“ . . . This was the heaviest traveled road into California. It is my recollection that over 300 vehicles a day passed over this road, headed for the promised land of Hollywood and Los Angeles . . . .”
“. . . This was the only piece of oiled road in 160 miles that had not ground up and blown away in the wind. At the center of this 10-mile stretch of oiled road was a gasoline pump and a little shed service station known as Chambless. This old service station is about one half mile to the north of the present state highway . . . .”
“. . . I had the nagging problem of the one 10-mile stretch at Chambless that was a marvel in having stood up like pavement . . . .” “. . . I finally purchased a powerful compound magnifying glass such as are used by geologists to examine small crystal structures. We took a good many samples of this ‘marvelous’ piece of road. I discovered that the voids in the aggregates were not filled by oil but that the particles were thoroughly coated with oil. Examining portions of other oiled roads that bled or rolled up in corrugations, on old county roads of ill repute, we found that invariably the voids between the particles were filled with oil. . .” “… we finally believed that we could make a road every bit as good as the “marvelous ten miles near Chambless . . .” “. . . within two years the road all the way to Needles could be traveled at 35 miles per hour by the average car . . . .”
“Superintendents, foremen, and equipment operations were sent all over District VII to observe successful jobs and all soon learned the technique . . . .”
“ . . . Engineers were sent to us from all the Western States by the Bureau of Public Roads . . . to be schooled. The Bureau of Public Roads later on sent engineers to us from all over the world to observe our work. They came from Egypt, Australia, South Africa, Chile, Peru, wherever there were desert roads and lack of finances to construct conventional pavements . . . .”
“Last week I took another look at this ‘marvelous’ old stretch of oiling. It is still there and in fairly good condition . . . .”
Mike Boultinghouse and Rick Roam, co-chairmen of the Old Trails Road Association of California, provided the text of Mr. Sullivan’s recollection. They added:
The excellent reputation of Sullivan’s work on the National Old Trails Road soon spread throughout the area and motorists changed their opinions of driving over this road. Once this route meant nothing more than dirt, sand and ruts in a trackless desert, but thanks to Sullivan and his crews, that had all changed for the better. These improvements, which included natural drainage during rainy periods with the road being placed between the flow lines of all the washes, allowed motorists to increase their speed from 10 to 35 miles per hour, which was really barreling along in those days. A drive from San Bernardino to Needles no longer meant a 2-1/2 day drive over terrible desert roads, seeking water stops or continuously having worn out or broken auto parts along a previously “rough” route over the National Old Trails Road.
They also commented:
With county and state road improvements now in progress across the desert from San Bernardino to the river crossing at Topock, things were starting to improve and the National Old Trails Road was getting a much needed “facelift.” Permanent type paving and wider roads had been completed as far as Daggett by July of 1927 along with other road improvements on into Needles.
California highway officials designated the State’s segment of the National Old Trails Road as a primary highway for Federal-aid purposes. [Boultinghouse , Mike, and Roam, Rick, Letter to Bureau of Land Management, October 28, 1994, copy in FHWA file]
Cannon Ball Baker - 1923
Erwin George Baker, better known as Cannon Ball Baker, was a famous automobile and motorcycle stunt driver. He often took on challenges from automobile or motorcycle companies to demonstrate the durability of their machine on long-distance trips. During his dozens of cross-country trips, he periodically traveled the National Old Trails Road, as happened in October 1923.
At 11:30 a.m. on October 8, 1923, he drove from Columbus Circle in New York City for his latest cross-country journey. As the words printed on the side of his Oldsmobile Six Phaeton, Model 30, proclaimed, he was going all the way from “New York to Los Angeles in High Gear.” The low, second, and reverse gears had been removed, and high gear “officially” sealed.
Motor West described the trip:
Baker can drive anything drivable . . . . But Baker does no stunts with lame ducks. No. He’s a demon demonstrator of what a really good motor vehicle can do; and his latest, this Oldsmobile stunt, said to be the first time any car whatever has crossed the continent in high gear, surely proved its power. Mud nor mountains could make it quit. Relatively as wonderful a trip as when in October, 1903, twenty years ago, the first automobile trip across the country was made.
On this, Baker’s 62d cross-country journey, the car covered 3674 miles at an average of 28.8 miles per gallon of gasoline. The oil reservoir, holding 6 quarts, was drained 5 times. The car had the regular axle ratio of 5 1/10-to-1. No repairs were made on the engine, clutch, transmission, universal joints or differential during the run. S-o-m-e run.
The route from New York was via Philadelphia, Cumberland, Md., Uniontown, Pa., Wheeling, W. Va., crossing the Cumberland Mountains; then through Columbus, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Dodge City, Raton Pass, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Flagstaff, Needles, San Bernardino, to Los Angeles. Boulevards, mountains, mud, rain, snow, mountains, desert, boulevard.
As indicated, the majority of the run would be on the National Old Trails Road:
A cordon of New York motorcycle police escorted “Bake” through New Jersey. In Philadelphia, a huge parade was staged and a greeting by the mayor-elect. Then an all-night drive, over the Cumberlands to Uniontown — some grades 16 to 21 per cent, taken at 25 to 35 per, in heavy fog. Took the famous Uniontown Hill at 27 per. Through Ohio and to Indianapolis on the 10th. To St. Louis on the 11th. Probably 150,000 persons saw the rolling advertisement during the 861 miles to Missouri. No water taken, so far.
On the 12th and 13th — Missouri rains, Missouri mud. On the 14th, 6 hours to plow through the last 18 miles into Kansas City. A $3,000,000-damage storm. On the 17th, Topeka. Mud-bound there the 18th. Kinsley, 150 miles, reached on the 19th — at 28.7 per gallon of gas, despite the mire, deep ruts, need of building cross-overs, etc. Snow and rain mixed. Had to chop ice off headlights. To Kinsley, only 9 ounces of oil used. On the 20th, out of Kinsley. Up grade all day, sometimes 15 per cent. Makeshift roads. Washouts. La Junta that night. On the 21st, rotten traveling — and up, up, up to Raton Pass, 7888 feet elevation. Snow-capped peaks all around, but hot in the pass. Hundreds of Sunday-outing cars, in second, boiling. That evening, Las Vegas, N.M., 2234 miles. On the 22d, Albuquerque, 2585 miles, after many stiff climbs. On the 23d, Holbrook, in the Rockies. Hard pulls? One of 6 miles, grades 10 to 17 per cent — over the top at 25 per. Continental Divide — 8300 feet elevation. Night. Blinding snow storm. On the 24th, bits like a 70 mile climb to Flagstaff, and on to Needles, Cal. On the 25th, across Mojave Desert to San Bernardino. On the 26th, boulevards to Los Angeles.
Eleven o’clock in the morning, October 26, at the City Hall, Los Angeles. Baker still at the bat. Handing Mayor Cryer a letter sent by Al Reeves, general manager of National Automobile Chamber of Commerce. A 3674 mile trip, in 18 days. High gear all the way. [“All the Way in High Gear,” Motor West, November 1, 1923, page 42, final paragraph shifted from its original placement in the article]
The point of the trip was reflected in an advertisement that appeared in newspapers:
COAST TO COAST IN HIGH GEAR!
New Oldsmobile Six demonstrates new degree
of engine flexibility and motor car stamina
The first car to cross the American continent in high gear! Driven by “Cannonball” Baker, holder of numerous road records, a new Oldsmobile Six (stock car with standard gear ratio) traveled 3,674 miles under every conceivable road and weather condition. Rain, snow, mud, rock-strewn passes and washed-out roads were encountered. Grades ranging from 5 to 17 per cent were negotiated. Yet, during this test, the car averages 28.7 miles per gallon of gasoline.
This run was planned to demonstrate the great flexibility and stamina of the new Oldsmobile Six by subjecting the car to the most unreasonable driving conditions. The 12½ days of the trip were equivalent to years of average driving. The fact that the car came through this grueling test with only minor adjustments and no recourse to the emergency kit, is proof of the car’s ability to give satisfaction in the hands of owners.
See the new Oldsmobile Six at our showroom. [The Sunday Star (Washington, D.C.), November 18, 1923, page 63]
Baker traveled parts or most of the National Old Trails Road in many of his transcontinental runs. He had, for example, traveled part of the road in his first transcontinental drive. Already successful as a racer, Baker decided to set a new record for crossing the country by motorcycle. With sponsorship for his Indian Motorcycle, he left San Diego, California, on May 3, 1914. Following a 210-mile southern route, he arrived in Phoenix, Arizona, 13 hours and 10 minutes after leaving San Diego. His ride to Springerville took 12 hours — his longest day thus far.
From Springerville, he stayed on the National Old Trails Road all the way to Uniontown, Pennsylvania. He picked up the Lincoln Highway for the ride into New York City, which he reached on May 14 around midnight after 11 Days, 14 hours, and 10 minutes. In article for The Bicycling World and Motorcycle Review (May 26, 1914), he gave due credit to his motorcycle. He had carefully selected his route based on the towns he would pass through, checking weather patterns over a 10-year period, and concluded that May was the best month for the run:
The weather ran true to form, and I did not hit rain until after I had gotten east of the Mississippi Valley, at which point I struck gravelly roads which absorbed moisture readily and gave me minimum trouble. This was just as I had planned. I followed behind a storm area trailing from west to east and struck no storm until another one finally caught up with me. During the rainy period I covered one stage of 72 miles through wind and water in 1 hour and 55 minutes . . . .
In all the distance of 3,497 miles I had no mechanical difficulties whatever and I encountered all the different road conditions known to travel. Between Mammoth, Cal. and Glamis I rode 64 miles on the railroad ties, crossing trestles and bridges. In a 1,027-mile desert stretch of sand, cactus, heat, thirst and desolateness, I traveled 115 miles without seeing a single living thing — except Gila monsters and snakes.
Four mountain ranges were negotiated. At one point at the northern end of Arizona I climbed from 200 feet below sea level to an altitude of 9,647 feet into the mountain snows . . . .
When I struck Indiana the authorities raised the speed limit for one day, so that I could do my best. And I did, making 376 miles in 11½ hours. I am a Hoosier, and welcome any encouragement which the people of my home state gave me as I passed from town to town with a generous and appreciated demonstration.
From Columbus, Oh., to Greensburg, Pa. the going was bad. I ploughed my way through 232 miles of mud — and was mighty glad to get out of it onto firm ground again.
My final dash was a 418-mile one from Greensburg, Pa. to New York City. This I did in 20 hours, 16 of which was actual riding. Total time for the trip was 11 days, 12 hours and 10 minutes, during which I took only 46 hours’ sleep — about 4 hours per day. Average mileage per day was 304. [Emde Don, Finding Cannon Ball’s Trail, Emde Books, 2016, pages 96-97]
During a cross-country drive in 1920, Cannon Ball Baker ran into a speed trap on the National Old Trails Road set up especially for him. While trying to break his own record for a New York-to-Los Angeles run, he reached California on August 4. As he raced across the Mojave Desert, he was well ahead of the record by about 7 and a half hours, despite heavy rain and the inevitable muddy roads of Kansas and Colorado. The new record was only a few hours away as he raced up to Cajon Pass.
He did not know that Governor William D. Stephens had objected to the many automobile races taking place on California’s highways. In response to the Governor’s concern, Motor Vehicle Superintendent Charles J. Chenu decided to make an example of Cannon Ball Baker on Cajun Pass where the speed limit was 15 miles per hour.
State Traffic Officer Jay Boone was waiting to catch Baker, who was driving 45 miles per hour. The San Bernardino Sun reported, “As Baker sped down the mountain road, Boone, who was secreted behind a tree, gave chase. Baker was arrested and cited to appear before Justice of the Peace Edward Wall in this city.” Having done his duty, Boone escorted Baker to Los Angeles “setting a pace which was all that the law would allow.”
With Boone’s help on the last stretch, Baker completed his drive of 3,378 miles in 6 days, 17 minutes. He had broken his own record by 18 hours.
Superintendent Chenu praised Boone and told The Sacramento Bee on August 10 that, “We are going to prosecute Baker and prosecute vigorously. If the judge in San Bernardino will fix a jail sentence instead of a fine, we may be able to stop this racing over roads.”
Chenu did not know that Baker had appeared a day earlier before Judge Edward Wall. Baker pleaded guilty, explaining, “if he had been informed he would not be permitted to exceed the speed limit in California as he did in other states,” he would not have gone so fast. Judge Wall fined Baker $10. Baker paid the fine and headed off to his next adventure. [Blackstock, Joe, “Cajon Pass speed trap was too much for even ‘Cannonball’ Baker,” Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, September 28, 2020]
Zero Milestones for the National Old Trails Road
Judge Lowe sent a copy of the association’s October 1923 bulletin to chambers of commerce, commercial clubs, and D.A.R. chapters in every town of consequence along the road. He urged them to erect sign posts or granite monuments “in each town of consequence”:
There will come a time when this Association will cease to exist, but there will never be a time when this road will fade away or be blotted out . . . . In order to ascertain the exact mileage, I would suggest that we count it from the Capital [sic] in Washington, and thence West, and in Baltimore, Washington Monument, Washington Place, North Charles St., and Mt. Vernon Place. These official mile-stones or monuments accurately placed will give the tourist not only definite information, but the people of each community as well, and will also reflect the spirit of the age in which we have lived.
This interest in milestones resulted from the dedication of the Zero Milestone on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. President Harding presided over the dedication on June 4, 1923. The monument read: POINT FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF DISTANCES FROM WASHINGTON ON HIGHWAYS OF THE UNITED STATES. Inscriptions on the side noted that the Zero Milestone marked the start of the first transcontinental army convoy (July 7 to September 6, 1919, via the Lincoln Highway) and the second (June 14 to October 6, 1920, via the Bankhead Highway).
Dr. S. M. Johnson of Roswell, New Mexico, had conceived the idea for the Zero Milestone based on the similar marker in ancient Rome. Dr. Johnson had been involved with the Southern National Highway Association, but he is best remembered as the head of the Lee Highway Association (Washington to San Diego). He had proposed the idea of a Zero Milestone in a letter on June 7, 1919, to Colonel J. M. Ritchie of the Motor Transport Corps:
It seems to me the time has come when the Government should designate a point at which the road system of the United States takes its beginning, and that the spot should be marked by an initial milestone, from which all road distances in the United States and throughout the Western hemisphere should be reckoned.
Rome marked the beginning of her system of highways which bound her widely scattered people together by a golden milestone in the Forum . . . . If that golden milestone in Rome still has power to fire the imagination of men, how much greater will be the appeal of the Washington milestone as time goes on and American history grows ever richer in deeds of service to humanity.
A temporary marker was placed at the site of the Zero Milestone in a ceremony before the first convoy began; Dr. Johnson accompanied the convoy to deliver good roads speeches in towns along the way. In June 1920, a Federal law authorized the Secretary of War to erect a Zero Milestone, at no cost to the government. The ceremony included speeches by President Harding, Secretary of Agriculture Wallace, Chief MacDonald, Roy Chapin, and Dr. Johnson.
By September 1923, backers were supporting milestones for every State, hence Judge Lowe’s interest.
(The idea of the Zero Milestone soon proved impractical. It has mainly been forgotten, but remains standing on the Ellipse, at an ideal location for tourists to stand while they take pictures of the southern side of the White House.)
Judge Lowe, in his bulletin, emphasized:
The cost of such a monument will be negligible, but ought to be so permanent as not to require re-placement within the next several generations. In the meantime, in co-operation with the Auto Club of Southern California at Los Angeles, we are signposting the road from ocean to ocean. Indicating the amount of travel on this road last year, the Auto Club . . . states, that last year there arrived in that city over the National Old Trails Road 27,830 cars, over the Lincoln Highway, 14,987 cars, over the Bankhead Highway 6,800 cars and over the Midland Trail, 9,125 cars, thus showing that nearly as many cars reached Southern California last year over the National Old Trails Road, averaging four people to each car, as came over all other roads combined, and the travel this year will be double over what it was last year. The Officials of this club estimate that the tourists this year will leave $240,000,000 in the western states, more than half of them coming over this road (or $120,000,000) estimating that each car carries four passengers, and spends $4.00 a day each, and remains in the state sixty days. Is this worth while? If this is true now, what may we expect when the road is paved all the way? $120,000,000 benefit in last year — it will never be less. But people travel East as well; suppose the benefit to the twelve states through which it runs, not counting California, be as much, the benefit to the twelve states will be $240,000,000.
To illustrate his point, Judge Lowe referred to two letters he had received. Colonel E. R. Moses of Great Bend, Kansas, and a member of the National Old Trails Association’s executive committee, had traveled by automobile through the New England States:
We traveled by auto through all of them, in the interior and the coast line, and they had elegant roads, kept up just like a railroad. They had to, if they got the [sic] travel, as they claim they took fifty-three million dollars from the tourists this year.
He also quoted a letter from B. A. Matthews of Columbus, Ohio, a State vice president of the National Old Trails Road Association:
Just arrived from a trip to Washington, D.C., over the National Old Trails Road. It is a wonderful road — like a city pavement all the way.”
Judge Lowe commented, “It makes life worth living when we receive such encouraging letters as these.”
He also quoted a news item:
Denver, Oct. 4.- Four and one-half million tourists visited Colorado this season and spent on an average of $10 each, or a total of 45 million dollars, according to estimates made today by the Denver tourist bureau. Frank A. Bare, president, who announced the figures, said the number of motor car tourists increased in the 1923 season from 514,000 to 643,000.
Judge Lowe expressed the point:
The former State Highway Engineer of Colorado proved by accurate figures some years ago that the N. O. T. Road would pay for its construction across the state in one year. There is not a state through which this road runs but could pay the entire cost of construction and receive a handsome dividend each year on the investment, whereas, each state pays only one-half the cost [under the Federal-aid highway program].
However, disregarding every other argument for improved roads, let’s consider the question from the economical or commercial side only; it is agreed by all authorities, and generally accepted, that the saving in transportation charges of a good over a bad road amounts to 20 cents per ton per mile, but for the purposes of this argument let’s be over conservative and assume that the saving would be one-half, or 10 cents per mile.
The most intelligent action taken by any State Engineer or Highway Board which had come under my observation, is in Colorado, where the Engineer put men out on all the roads constituting their State Highway system and kept a count of the amount of wheeled vehicle traffic for a period of two months at different seasons of the year and then made an estimate based upon these reports of the amount of traffic on each of the 113 roads constituting a mileage of 3827, with the result that the National Old Trails Highway from the Kansas State line to Pueblo, covering a distance of 168 miles carried more than half the tonnage of the whole State system.
Having learned of some criticisms having been made upon this report, I had some correspondence with the State Engineer and asked him to make a calculation based upon 10c saving per ton per mile, estimating the cost of construction to be $25,000 per mile, particularly as it related to the National Old Trails Road. His statement was that if 10c per ton per mile were to be accepted instead of 20c the generally accepted estimate, was made, that it would pay for itself in a single year.
In addition to his commentary in the bulletin, Judge Lowe included a press release from AAA for release on September 14, 1923. The headline:
SATURATION POINT
IS NOT IN SIGHT
Report of Auto Registrations for First Six Months of 1923.
Shows Big Increase in Leading States.
New York Again Leads in Licenses —
Ohio Goes Ahead of California.
The point of the press release was that, “There are no indications that the United States or any of the individual States are approaching the point of saturation in number of motor vehicles.”
The press release ended:
The total number of motor vehicles registered in all of the States during the six months period was 13,002,427 as against 12,238,375 for the entire year of 1922. The total revenue from registration was $167,240,937.76 for the first six months as compared to $152,047,823.74. In addition to the revenue from registrations the States collected from the motorists $8,669,174.02 in taxes on gasoline during the six months period of this year, as compared to a total collection of $11,923,442.61 for 1922. As the gasoline tax is collected as the fuel is used, the record for the year 1923 may be expected to double that of 1922. The gasoline tax in some of the States did not go into effect until late in the years
The final record of 1923 will indicate that motorists will have paid direct taxes in registration fees to the States and gasoline taxes approximately $200,000,000 according to the Good Roads Board of the A.A.A. This will not include the personal property tax or special registration or gasoline taxes imposed by cities, counties and townships.
Judge Lowe continued:
May we add to the above illuminating statement, that the suggestion of appropriating this immense and immensely growing sum to the States to be used as a guarantee fund against a State Bond Issue, was suggested as early as the 2nd of May, 1912, BY THIS ASSOCIATION. In the states adopting this plan they are Building Roads. By this plan the Automobile owner nor the manufacturer does not add one penny to his taxes. The State simply sets aside this tax and applies it to the road fund, where it ought to go. These figures are illuminating too, indicating the most active states in building roads. It illustrates also that within the next five years such states as Missouri and Kansas will each have a road fund, from this source alone, of not less than the state of Michigan, or 624,590 cars, and if the license fee be $10.00 per car this will amount to $6,245,900 with the gasoline tax to be added, annually. It is a safe estimate to multiply this by two, within the five year period. Neither does this plan of providing a road fund add one penny to the taxes of the farmer, the chief beneficiary, for, after all is said, in the entire process of road construction, the land-owner is chiefly benefitted. It will double the value of every acre of land bordering on any through or National Road. Were it not for the purblindness of this class of people, supported and encouraged by pig-headed road officials and crooked Politicians, the whole problem of road construction would be solved over night. It is not the purpose to levy a tax, but to appropriate a tax already levied. We repeat this is not a purpose to levy a tax, but an effort to see that a tax already levied shall go into the building of roads where it belongs and not into politics where it does not belong. Kentucky now has a campaign for a $50,000,000 fund which will undoubtedly carry, and so will Tennessee for $75,000,000.
Because “easy money” is thus in sight, we must guard against a saturnalia of extravagance and waste. We must regard this as a sacred fund and protect it from being robbed by crooked contractors, material interests, or unscrupulous, inefficient and untrustworthy officials. It seems we must still guard ourselves against the silly nonsense that that road is best which costs the most money. A gravel pit in McPherson County, Kas., it is claimed, will supply the material to pave the entire state system of roads in that state. It is claimed that this gravel cements itself, and does not RUT or WASH. Many of the other states no doubt have this same quality of gravel. Wichita, Kansas, has put on a Bus line to Los Angeles! After all “the World do move.” The distance between Wichita and Los Angeles is about 1800 miles. The Secretary of this Association, Mr. Geo. L. L. Gann of Pueblo, also a member of the State Highway Board of Colorado, informs me that there is practically an inexhaustible supply of limestone shale right on this road between La Junta and Trinidad which is superior for road surfacing to the best known quality of cement.
He referred to a speech by Chief MacDonald in which he divided roads into three classes:
1st — Cement-Concrete
2nd — Asphalt, and
3rd — Gravel.
“It is unnecessary,” Judge Lowe wrote, “to say we would not have thus classified them but, McDonald [sic] has the last guess.”
He also addressed a common concern:
It is claimed that this is an inopportune time to build roads because the farmers have been struck hard by the depressed conditions now prevailing. This fallacy is of easy solution. The farms do not contribute one penny to the road construction fund. If they did, when times are hard and agricultural industries suffering, it seems would be the most opportune moment to employ an army of men in road construction. It is no remedy for dull times to sit down and cry over the situation. Moreover, if this fund does not go into roads, it will be dissipated and distributed among a vast throng of political parasites. Which shall it be?
Judge Lowe also took the opportunity to criticize the highly publicized “Ideal Section” of the Lincoln Highway. The named trail associations, in general, were promotional organizations; they did not build or pay for construction of their roads. The Lincoln Highway Association was unusual in providing resources for “seedling miles” as object lessons to encourage State and local officials to improve the road along the same lines. The most famous "seedling" and one of the most talked about portions of the Lincoln Highway at the time was the 1.3-mile "Ideal Section" between Dyer and Schererville in Lake County, Indiana. In 1920, the association decided to develop a model section of road that would be adequate not only for current traffic but for highway transportation over the following 2 decades. The association assembled 17 of the country's foremost highway experts for meetings in December 1920 and February 1921 to decide design details of the Ideal Section. They agreed on such features as:
- A 110-foot right-of-way;
- A 40-foot wide concrete pavement 10 inches thick (maximum loads of 8,000 pounds per wheel were the basis for the pavement design);
- Minimum radius for curves of 1,000 feet, with guardrail at all embankments;
- Curves superelevated (i.e., banked) for a speed of 35 miles per hour;
- No grade crossings or advertising signs; and
- A footpath for pedestrians.
The Ideal Section was built during 1922 and 1923, with funds from the Federal-aid highway program, the State highway agency, and Lake County as well as a $130,000 contribution by the United States Rubber Company (company president C. B. Seger was one of the founders of the Lincoln Highway Association). In magazines and newspapers, the Ideal Section was hailed as a vision of the future. Highway officials from around the country visited the Ideal Section, and discussed it in papers read before technical societies in this country and abroad.
Judge Lowe had his own view of the Ideal Section as expressed in his October 1923 bulletin:
The “Ideal Section” mentioned, if it even demonstrates its endurance, will also demonstrate its uselessness, because its cost is prohibitive. Our opinion is that the “Ideal Road” of the future will be so resilient as to absorb the shock and blow of modern traffic, no matter how heavy the load, or severe the shock. But, our opinion is now what it has always been, to wit: to build with the best available material and to build better and better as the years go by.
We heartily endorse Theodore Gary’s definition that “Road Building is a Process.”
(Today, the Ideal Section is still in use between Dyer and Schererville, an early attempt to envision the type of highway that would evolve into today's Interstate superhighways.)
To further illustrate the point, Judge Lowe reprinted a letter dated September 28, 1923, from George W. Jones, Road Commissioner, Los Angeles County, regarding Harbor Boulevard in San Pedro. He described how the road had been flooded and damaged over the years from 1910 to 1918, and was impassable at times, after which:
June, nineteen-nineteen, additional disintegrated granite was placed over surface to level same on which five inch Willite Pavement was laid in two courses of three inches foundation and two inch top.
Subsequent investigation along edge of pavement shows many voids in base which is still subject to settlement of filler.
Traffic at date of Willite construction six thousand tons per day with gradual increase to date of seventeen thousand eight hundred tons per day. Pavement at present time in excellent condition. Total maintenance to date approximately two hundred fifty dollars. We are satisfied with it and building more. Decomposed granite used on this job FRIABLE material secured from Country pit.
Judge Lowe added, “May we add, this stretch of road has received greater punishment and required less maintenance than any road in the United States, BAR NONE.
Next, he reprinted a list of historic dates for the National Old Trails Road beginning with 1606:
New Mexico section established…………………………………1606
Eastern Section conceived by George Washington prior to...……1800
Financed by Act of Congress admitting Ohio into the Union……1802
Established by Act of Congress…………………………………..1806
Established and extended by Congress to Santa Fe, New Mexico..1825
Constructed and extended by Congress to the Mississippi River
and maintained until………………………………………1837
Its restoration and construction by “The Mo. Old Trails
Association” in convention assembled……………………1907
Taken over, adopted and named, “National Old Trail Road”
at Kansas City, Mo., in Convention assembled…………...1912
Judge Lowe reprinted an article he had written for BREEZES, the magazine of the Kansas City Automobile club. The title and subtitle were:
THE HISTORIC “NATIONAL OLD TRAILS ROAD”
Conceived by George Washington and, Following
Civilization Westward Under Various Acts of Congress,
Now Reaches From Ocean to Ocean
He repeated the history of the Cumberland Road and other segments of the National Old Trails Road, ending with the founding of the named trail in 1912:
We cannot dwell further upon the historic features surrounding it but hasten to a conclusion by saying that today it is completely hard surfaced from the Atlantic Seaboard to the Mississippi at St. Louis. It has now been taken over practically throughout its entire length across this state [Missouri] as the first interstate highway to be built under the late Act of the Missouri legislature. This insures its completion in the near future to Kansas City. Very much of the road between Kansas City and Los Angeles has already been built, and is in good travelable condition.
It is hoped that the road West from the Mississippi will be 20 feet wide. The road from Kansas City west will be uniformly paved twenty feet wide. It is already practically all graded and bridged. It is the only road you can take at the Mississippi River and reach the Atlantic Seaboard over a hard surfaced road. It is the only National Road ever established in the history of this country, and will be the first to be completed.
Finally, he reprinted his remarks his remarks to the Highway Congress of the Highway Industries and American Association of State Highway Officials on December 12, 1918. In doing so, he asked, “The Chicago Compromise — has it been kept? Lest we forget.” He also reprinted the resolutions adopted at the time. (See part 3 for more information.)
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