Yellowstone Historic Resource Study The History of the Construction of the Road System in Yellowstone National Park, 1872-1966

TOWER JUNCTION TO CANYON JUNCTION

In the fall of 1926, E. E. Snyder of the Bureau of Public Roads made a reconnaissance survey for road improvements and construction of the Tower Junction to Canyon Junction section of the road, followed by a location survey by A.O. Stinson, of the Bureau of Public Roads, in the fall of 1929. The location survey revealed that the plans to use as much of the existing road between station 230 and 413 was not feasible. The National Park Service wanted to use the alignment of the old road for scenic reasons and to also maintain the Mt. Washburn connection. However, the Park officials agreed with the Bureau that few scenic views would be sacrificed by using a more direct and economical route at a lower elevation. Thus in May, 1930, another survey was completed. In August of 1930. Morrison-Knudsen Company of Boise, Idaho, received the contract and began work by August 9.

The contractor selected three camp sites, Camp "A", which accommodated 100 men, on the left of station 105, Camp "B", which accommodated 40 men, on the right of station 450, and Camp "C", which accommodated 60 men, on the left of station 740. The road camp buildings were constructed of rough pine, with heavy tar paper roofs and thin paper walls.

This construction project extended from a point 1/2 mile south of Tower Falls to a point 1-1/2 miles north of the Grand Canyon rim. The grades from station 0.00 to station 230 ranged from 2 to 7% where it goes over Dunraven Pass, then follows a near level grade along the flank of Mount Washburn, then goes from 4 to 6% grades, crossing over the ridge to Antelope Creek basin, terminating at Antelope Creek at the end of the project, station 839+75. Prior to this improvement, most of the traffic that entered the Park from the south and east entrances turned off at Canyon Junction to avoid the excessive grades and sharp curves on the narrow road. In 1930, the cutoff from Canyon Junction to Norris Junction was the major freight route from Mammoth Hot Springs.

The contract called for the construction of an earth graded 18 feet Standard Type 100 road and the installation of 4' x 4', 5' x 5', 6' x 6', and 8' x 8' concrete box culverts, 24", 30", and 36" corrugated galvanized metal pipe culverts, all of which were to have rustic cement rubble masonry headwalls. The contract also specified the construction of cement rubble masonry and wood guard railing.

A 1-Yd Northwest gas shovel, two 7-yd. LaTourneau Hydraulic scrapers, a scarifier and three 60 Caterpillar tractors began work on September 3. A 60 Caterpillar and cables lowered materials for the 6' x 6' box culvert down the mountainside at station 194+50. Five wood-burning stoves were fired up upon the arrival of cold nights and before closing down for the winter on November 14, the Caterpillars and scrapers had to clear a road through the snow for the men to leave in their trucks and cars. During the winter, a watchman was left at Camp "A" and one at Camp "C".

Work resumed on May 19, 1931. The snow was still 3 to 5 feet deep between stations 230 and 538, but the contractor was able to open ditches and get his equipment prepared. Between stations 833 and 836, the crews built hand-laid rock embankment on a 1-1/4 slope which merged into the newly built cement rubble masonry retaining walls of a 1/4 to 1 slope in such a manner that "it made an exceptionally neat appearing job for which there were many compliments." [140]

Six box culverts were installed on the segment, but no major structures were part of the project. The sand and gravel material for the box culverts came from a pit along the Yellowstone River about 12 miles from the project. The surfacing material for the section between stations 704 and 839 was obtained from a pit on the left of station 725. Other surfacing material came from the cut area between stations 109 and 112.

The grading project was completed ahead of schedule on September 15, 1931, despite 65 of the men being "drafted" by the National Park Service to fight the Heart Lake fire for a month during July and August of 1931. [141]

By the fall of 1933, the project was surfaced and the Tower Creek Bridge had been completed. Between the time of the grading and the final surfacing, this segment had experienced may slides and many of the fill areas had settled from one to two feet. Thus the beginning of the 1933, these problems had to be resolved. It became apparent that much of the segment needed additional drainage. The engineers realized in Yellowstone "the necessity for stage construction and the use of an oil processed crushed rock surface for a considerable period of time before the placing of a permanent surface." [142]

In early October, 1933 and a few days after the surfacing had been completed on the Tower Falls to Canyon Junction segment, a massive slide occurred on the vertical face of Overhanging Cliff near Tower Junction. Due to the instability of the formation and the risk to property and life, the slide removal and restoration was delayed until the next season. Plans had to be drawn to take off part of the cliff during the slide removal. S.J. Groves and Sons Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota, received the contract for the low bid of $11,435.00. Following the removal of the debris, the masonry guardrails and the hand laid rock embankment with masonry toe wall had to be reconstructed. [143] In 1935, more columnar basalt dropped into the ditch under Overhanging Cliff. The Bureau of Public Roads planned for one of their contractors to use the stone, however, the National Park Service wanted it left to protect the underlying gravel in hopes it would prevent further erosion and hence prevent more of the columnar basalt from falling. The National Park Service did allow the contractor to use the loose, talus slides just south of the Overhanging Cliff for use as surfacing aggregate. [144]

Also during 1935, time was spent trying to obliterate and improve old roads, including one between the Chittenden Bridge and Canyon Lodge and one north of Tower Falls and the southside of the first gulch east of Camp Roosevelt. [145]

The next major project on this stretch, planned prior to the beginning of World War II, but was not actually completed until 1949, was a grading and surfacing project in the vicinity of the connecting road leading to the rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the connecting road into Canyon Hotel and parking areas. Shortly thereafter, minor slides and one major slide involving about 4,000 cubic yards covered the new road between 13 and 18. The investigation into the cause of the major slide revealed that:

numerous indications of previous land movements in the area immediately above and to the left of centerline of the new highway between stations 12 and 60. The main cause of these land movements appeared to be the extremely 'greasy' character of the soil, aggravated by water seeping from a series of ancient pits or 'Buffalo Wallows' above the new highway. It was at one these pits, approximately 175 feet left of the centerline of the new highway, that the major slide apparently originated. Test holes were drilled on a parallel line, approximately 200 ft. left of centerline, and entrapped water was encountered at a depth varying from 5-1/2 to 6 feet below the surface of the natural ground. This trapped water apparently seeped through a stratum of soft material overlying a stratum of hard clay. Corrected measures consisted of excavating a 400-foot-long trench to the depth of the hard material, installing 6-inch vitrified clay pipe and backfilling with previous sand backfill to a depth approximately 6 inches below natural ground surface. This was in turn covered with heavy rock to prevent surface erosion. The excavated material was shaped into a neatly rounded berm below the trench. This construction served the double purpose of removing the trapped water and also of conducting surface water away from cut slopes and roadway and depositing it in a natural drainage channel left of station 19. Excavated material from the slide was spread uniformly over the fill slopes between stations 6+50 and 12+50 of the Cascade Creek fill. [146]

At the completion, a standard 28-feet shoulder-to-shoulder grading was followed with 6 inches of crushed stone base course treated with MC-1 asphaltic prime. Many minor culverts were installed and the timber guardrail was replaced. [147]

In 1957, new guardrail was installed on the Tower Junction to Canyon Junction section and in 1960, the section was resurfaced and repairs were made to the earthquake (1959) damaged sections. More improvements were carried out in 1962 and in 1966, the Calcite Springs overlook and parking area was reconstructed. In 1985, 4,787 linear feet of wooden guardrail was installed between Dunraven Pass and Tower Junction and more repair to the rock wall along the roadside at Calcite Springs was done. [148]