NATIONAL PARK SERVICE YEARS

Established in 1916, the National Park Service was entrusted with the mission of preserving cultural artifacts and natural wonders for the benefit of all Americans. This new agency adopted the Rustic Style of architecture, which dictated that park structures and facilities should harmonize with their natural settings. This style is well-represented in Mount Rainier's outstanding collection of historic park buildings, as well as its bridges and other road-related structures.

The creation of the National Park service prompted surveys for expansion of the park's road system. A rough road was opened into the Carbon River section at the northwest corner of the park in 1921. For many years, this route was periodically inundated by raging floods, and even today is closed much of the year.

The National Park Transportation Company operated motor stages from Ashford to Paradise Valley.

By the early 1920s, the park roads were in terrible condition. Visitors were irritated by choking clouds of dust from the unpaved surfaces, and serious accidents were beginning to occur. The park was forced to expend more and more money on repeated repairs and maintenance.

No sooner is one rough place repaired than others, worse, are worn. By the time a second or third dangerously rutted section is repaired the first work must be done over. The worst feature of it all is the gradual deterioration of the old road despite all the work done and expenditures made, giving the impression to visitors that we either do not know how to maintain roads or else we are not cognizant of the needs.

--Superintendent O. A. Tomlinson, 1925

Concessionaire buses at the Paradise Inn, late 1920s, Today, increasing auto traffic is pressuring a return to shuttle services.

Park administrators and motorists clamored for the construction of roads in other areas. Park administrators were hampered by lack of communication between the various park areas; road distance between park headquarters at Longmire and White River Ranger station was 135 miles, almost all of which was outside the park boundaries.

This bridge was built in 1924 to provide access to the Longmire Public Auto Camp (now closed). The structure was originally constructed with log towers and a wooden Town lattice truss. In 1952 it was reconstructed with dimensional lumber and a Howe stiffening truss. —Drawn by Bryan Fish, HAER, 1992.

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