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

"A Splendid Working Agreement" — Stephen Mather, 1928

There was much debate during 1924 and 1925 over the advantages and disadvantages of the Bureau of Public Roads taking over the responsibility of road improvement and road construction in the national parks. In a 1924 report, Albright spoke very highly of the Chief of the Bureau of Public Roads Thomas McDonald and his deputy, Dr. L.I. Hewes, but he was not in favor of the Bureau assuming the roadwork in the parks. He felt that since National Park Service road standards were lower than those of the Bureau of Public Roads, the parks would get more roads for the money, the National Park Service could protect the park landscape and could build roads at a lower cost due to lower National Park Service overhead. However, by April 1925, Albright concluded that for the following reasons, it would be advantageous for the Bureau of Public Roads to be in charge:

1. Engineer Goodwin cannot co-operate with the park Superintendents and is out of harmony with some of Director Mather's policies. It appears that he must be replaced anyway.

2. Roads built in Bureau of Public Roads standards will be on a par with approach roads to the parks, will be safe for all park travel, and be constructed for all time to come, while roads on other standards will ultimately have to be improved.

3. It will be vastly easier to obtain future road funds under General Road acts and with the close of the 1927 fiscal year, both the National Park Service and the General Road authorities expire.

4. The Bureau of Public Roads have all of the best road engineers available to the Federal Government. We would have to offer higher salaries to get their men or to entice men away from the states.

5. The Bureau of Public Roads has, been building roads for nearly ten years, and as one of their men recently told me, "They have made all the mistakes it is possible to make, and that they know how to build without making so many mistakes, at least mistakes that a new organization would make."

6. The Bureau of Public Roads will probably be transferred to the Interior Department under the present plan of departmental reorganization, so ultimately it is likely that the Bureau will take over our road work anyway. [278]

In his recommendation for the changeover, he stipulated several conditions:

1. To revise the 3-year road program to conform to Bureau of Public Roads standards in general.

2. To turn over National Park Service road improvements to the Bureau of Public Roads.

3. To have the Bureau of Public Roads survey all projects and plan future roads.

4. To abolish the National Park Service office in Portland.

5. To work out a plan of cooperation with the Bureau of Public Roads that will continue authority in the Interior Department to:

a. Approve location of projects and areas to be opened to roads.

b. Control protection of the landscape.

c. Continue all maintenance and repair work, and where practicable to improve or build roads by force account under park engineers. [279]

One of the first changes to occur at the national level was the reorganization of the Civil Engineering Department. Chief Civil Engineer Goodwin was relieved of his duties by Secretary of the Interior Hubert Work, July 1, 1925. Goodwin's assistant, Bert Burrell became the acting chief engineer. During 1926, the Civil Engineering Office was moved from Portland, Oregon, to Yellowstone National Park, remaining there until its relocation to San Francisco on October 1, 1927. Bureau of Public Roads Engineer Frank Kittredge was named the chief civil engineer with Burrell named as his assistant. The following year, 1928, the San Francisco office was designated as the National Park Service's Field Headquarters. Both the Civil Engineering Division and the Landscape Architecture Division were moved to the Underwood Building in San Francisco. [280]

In 1926, the National Park Service and the Bureau of Public Roads signed a Memorandum of Agreement relating to the survey, construction, and improvement of roads and trails in the national parks and national monuments. [281] Mather called the document a "splendid working agreement." He believed that the Landscape Division would be "indispensable" to the Bureau of Public Roads in their joint effort "where scenery must be conserved and at all costs left as little scarred as possible." [282]

Daniel Hull, chief of the Landscape Engineering Division, could not have agreed more. Even before the National Park Service and the Bureau of Public Roads signed their agreement, Hull found that his division spent a "larger portion of time than ever before . . . to landscape protection in connection with the road construction program." [283] The division's specific duties included:

. . . inspection of the territory before survey is made, going over preliminary road line with the idea of suggesting modifications for the protection of landscape features or to take advantage of some scenic point which had been previously overlooked, and inspection on the ground during actual construction for the purpose of adding in the best means of carrying the program forward, particularly with an idea of making the finished result the best possible in its relation to the landscape. Bridges in connection with the road projects have received considerable attention. [284]

During 1925, the Civil Engineering Department maintained 291.8 miles of road in the park, 28 miles of road in the Shoshone National Forest and 30 miles of road in Teton National Forest. Throughout the travel season, 107 miles of roads were sprinkled twice daily. Of the 13 projects proposed as a part of the first 3-year road improvement program, 5 were planned for completion or near completion in 1925:

1. Lake Shore Road—reconstruction of the 11-mile stretch of road along Yellowstone Lake between Bridge Bay and West Thumb—replaced a steep, narrow, and uninteresting section.

2. Firehole River Road—widening the 1-1/2-mile section along the Firehole River, south of the Firehole Cascades—would allow 2-way traffic.

3. West Thumb to Amica Creek Road—widening a 3/4-mile section of road over Bluff Point, 2 miles from West Thumb on the Lake Road.

4. Mammoth Hot Springs to Tower Falls Road—widening a 1-1/8-mile section and surfacing a 3-mile section between the 2 and 5 mile posts from Mammoth Hot Springs.

5. Inspiration Point Road—reconstruction of a 2-1/2-mile section along the north rim of the Grand Canyon. [285]

The 54-foot steel bridge removed from a Gardner River location in 1919 replaced an old log bridge over Crawfish Creek. The steel bridge, placed on concrete abutments, was a 15 degree skew bridge and its placement allowed the road to be straightened at the bridge crossing. Other bridge work included painting 23 steel bridges with paint composed of 15 percent sublimed blue lead, 10 percent silica and 10 percent zinc, 20 percent pure chrome yellow, 35 percent white lead and 10 percent National Park Service green coloring ground in pure linseed oil. [286]

During the autumn of 1925, park engineers completed preliminary surveys of an 8-mile stretch between Turbid Lake and Sylvan Pass on the East Entrance Road and an 18-mile section north and west of Grayling Creek on the West Gallatin Road. [287] The National Park Service expected the Bureau of Public Roads to conduct reconnaissance surveys on the Canyon Junction to Tower Junction road, the Tower Junction to Mammoth Hot Springs road, from Fishing Bridge to Lake Butte on the East Entranee Road, the Norris Junction to Madison Junction road, and the Lake Junction to West Thumb road. [288]

The working season of 1926 was a trying one for Superintendent Albright. In addition to the transfer of the responsibility of the roadwork to the Bureau, Albright faced problems with independent contractors trying to complete small jobs within the Park. The Inspiration Point road in particular illustrated the unsatisfactory working arrangement with contractors on small projects. Albright felt the park road crews could have completed the project on time. Since many of the park projects were small in scale, the very large contractors did not bid. In the case of the Inspiration Point Road, a nearby contractor, Pioneer Construction Company, was awarded the contract, despite the fact that they did not have the equipment or any engineers. In the end, park road crews worked on it at the expense of the contractor. Albright feared that the Bureau would be faced with similar problems. [289]

With the prospects of an expanded roadwork program lasting many years, another issue was housing for road crews. Road camp facilities for the crews were examined and tentative proposals offered for improving the situation. In the Mammoth Hot Springs area, road workers were housed in several locations. One unwinterized building had seven private rooms and a dormitory configuration large enough for 15 iron bunkbeds. The truck drivers, barn men, commissary employees, and others occupied 14 small rooms over the old carpenter shop. The 14 cubicles were heated by individual stoves which consumed large quantities of fuel. Three men lived in one end of "McFarland's" shop without the benefit of washing or bathing facilities or toilets. The proposal for this area was to build additional quarters for single, permanent employees and the partitioning of the old carpenter shop into more rooms and a bathroom. At Beaver Lake, the present log messhouse and frame stable were repaired by putting in a new fir floor and a large range with hot water tank and the addition of a frame bunkhouse for 10 men. At Norris, the frame mess house was found to be too large and unsightly and was earmarked for replacement by a new one. The log and frame stable and frame bunkhouse with log trim needed painting or staining. The two small frame buildings need to be relocated to a less conspicuous place. At Gibbon Meadows, the log stable and frame mess house were sufficient and changes were not needed. At Madison Junction, a log bunkhouse to house 12 men was recommended. The frame messhouse and log storehouse were adequate, but because more motor equipment was needed in this area, the stable located in one end of the storehouse probably would not be needed. At Excelsior Geyser, a frame bunkhouse addition was recommended for the frame messhouse and log stable complex. At Old Faithful, the frame mess house and frame officer's house complex needed a frame bunkhouse for camp cleaners, sprinkler man, and truck driver, and a frame stable for the cleaner's team and the ranger's horses. Nothing besides the frame messhouse and bunkhouse, small frame house for the cook and frame stable, was required at Spring Creek. Nothing more was required at DeLacey Creek, other than the frame messhouse and bunkhouse and frame stable. At West Thumb, it was recommended that the frame messhouse and bunkhouse located in the auto campground be torn down and a new unit built on the hill south of the campground. In addition, it was recommended that a stable be built. A frame granary and a log and slab shed for a stable were also located in the auto campground.

At Lake, it was recommended that the log mess house be remodeled to add a cook's quarters, and that the log bunkhouse be remodeled or a new one built. A new log or frame stable was required, and it was recommended that the old sheds in the area be razed. At Trout Creek, it was suggested that the frame stable be razed, a smaller one be placed behind the log messhouse, and a frame bunkhouse built. At Canyon, the log messhouse had to be enlarged to include a cook's quarters and a new bunkhouse for 15 men be built. A log stable was also in the complex. At Dunraven Pass, the frame mess house, frame stable with log trim and the frame bunkhouse with log trim were adequate. At Tower Junction, the old log stable had to be razed and a smaller one built behind the frame mess house. A log or frame bunkhouse had to be built. At Blacktail Deer Plateau, the old log mess house and log stable had to be razed and a new complex of messhouse, bunkhouse, and stable be built at a site nearer the road. At Virginia Meadows, a small log or frame bunkhouse and stable needed to be added to the existing log messhouse. At West Gallatin, a log messhouse and log bunkhouse needed to be built after the road was completed. Two complexes containing a messhouse, bunkhouse, and stable needed to be built at the Lamar Canyon and at Devil's Well, on the Cooke City Road. A frame or log messhouse, bunkhouse, and stable needed to be built at Turbid Lake and at the East Entrance. A log bunkhouse needs to be added to the log messhouse and log stable at Lewis River. The log messhouse, log bunkhouse, log stable, and log bathhouse at Cub Creek were adequate. [290]

The first five projects of the three-year plan were completed in 1926. The work along the Firehole River between Madison Junction and the Firehole Cascades was "constructed on the highest standards of any used in the National Park Service" since "the beauty of the canyon justifies the very great attention that is being given to details of wall and fill construction." [291] The maintenance staff painted five bridges including the Gardner River and Yellowstone River bridges on the Cooke City road the National Park Service green. The Lamar River Bridge was realigned and repaired and the Lava Creek, Blacktail Deer Plateau and the Gardner River bridges were redecked. The Park and the Yellowstone Park Hotel Company continued their telephone line removal project with removal of lines between Norris Basin and Old Faithful that year. The landscape architects worked very closely on this project, particularly where vista cutting was required. [292]

The Rockefeller funded cleanup operation completed the Mammoth Hot Springs to Norris Junction section with crews working out of the road camp buildings at Beaver Lake, a tent camp set up in the public campground at the 16.5 milepost near Twin Lakes and a crew at Norris Junction. Due to the high fire risk, the piles of debris were left for the rangers to burn later.

In June, a crew worked out of Lake Camp on the Bridge Bay section, and in September, out of the road camp at West Thumb. During September, other crews working the Lake to Canyon Road found the slopes of the Cascade Creek Canyon just below the Canyon Hotel and the canyon west of the ranger station very steep and difficult. Stump removal on all of these sections was done with blasting and/or with 75 Holt tractors. By the close of the 1926 season, Rockefeller had given $22,368.37 toward the cleanup of 31 miles of Yellowstone roads.

The Park crews, using government funds, continued work on the Lake Shore Road by cleaning up the shoreline and cutting vistas at specific points along the road. They removed old slashings that had been dumped over the rim at Canyon, cleaned up the road to the Canyon bear dump behind the hotel, and removed old trees and stumps from the dump.

Reconstruction of the East Entrance Road was scheduled to begin in September using park crews. Bad weather, however, prevented any excavation, so the crews began clearing and grubbing. The workmen found these sections to be the heaviest work in the Park, due mostly to the extensive piles of old slashings along the road. [293]

Rockefeller visited Yellowstone during 1926. He was very pleased with the progress and authorized more work for the next year. This project affected the entire National Park system. Not only did Rockefeller offer aid to Crater Lake National Park, he also used his influence with Congress in support of the parks on this and other projects. Albright described the improvements in his Annual Report of 1926:

One must see the Yellowstone roadside improvements to appreciate what the work means to the park. The effects obtained are almost unbelievable. The mere removal of the litter constitutes a transformation, but after the snow of a winter and the following summer's sun have done their part, one can hardly realize that the highway has not been removed to a new location. The grass and flowers among the trees and along the road present a truly park atmosphere that did not exist before that work was undertaken. [294]

Albright visited many western parks during 1926 and was quite impressed with the emphasis now placed on roadside cleanup within the road construction program. He expressed his gratitude to Rockefeller in a May 1927 letter:

I feel that we owe all of this interest in the improvement of our highways to your help in the Yellowstone. You started one of the most important movements ever undertaken in the national parks and the results obtained have attracted so much attention that there has been no difficulty in getting roadside cleanup recognized as an exceedingly important part of future road construction programs to be carried on by the Government. I only wish I could put down on paper and thus convey to you the interest and enthusiasm that I observed among park superintendents and road engineers for this roadside improvement work. [295]

Another road related issue, one not resolved in 1926, was Albright's study of possible restoration of some of the old roads for use in fire protection. His intent was to make them passable for light truck use during the emergencies of big forest fires. [296]

With most of the 3-year program projects completed, the Park began planning for a new 5-year program based upon a survey of all of the roads in Yellowstone with the exception of Cooke City and Mount Washburn roads and the assumption of a congressional appropriation of $5 million per year or $25 million for a period of five years, Servicewide. Yellowstone's share of the $25 million for five years would be $3,240,000, or $1,620,000 should lower appropriations be approved. With these amounts, Yellowstone officials realized that only the very worst road sections in the Park would be reconstructed and that most of the old Army bridges would have to be retained and not replaced with adequate bridges. [297]

With the state highway departments completing roads of high standards near the Park, the contrast with road conditions inside Yellowstone continued to be evident. Albright, who called the East Entrance Road, ". . . one of the most dangerous roads in the national park system," recommended its reconstruction as a high priority. The road, with no parapet protection, grades up to 16 percent, and widths in some places of only 8 feet, was used by 105,000 travelers in 1927. He also called for the reconstruction of the Gallatin Highway section and the road through the Gibbon Canyon. In addition to reconstruction work, Albright's other major concern was the dust problem. [298]

Albright and the Bureau of Public Roads officials knew that it would be at least ten years before the whole Yellowstone road system would be addressed, but the National Park Service planned to continue the experimental oiling program effort to eliminate the dust nuisance. Yellowstone's maintenance crew adopted the "California method, more particularly known as the 'Victorville' or the 'Brycebury-El Portal' method". During the summer of 1927, the Park received many positive comments from the public about the use of oiling as a dust palliative. Maintenance crews oiled 124 miles of roads with from 1/9 to 1/2 gallons-per-square yard (or 300,000 gallons) of light oil during June, July, and August. Besides eliminating dust, the switch from water sprinkling to more successful oiling benefited the landscape by keeping the roadsides and wildflowers looking cleaner and green. Another benefit was removal of the entire water sprinkling system, i.e. the "eyesores," caused by the many wooden water tanks along the roadsides.

The oil hauling operation used nine tank trucks and one distributing truck. Four of the tank trucks, which were World War I surplus, had steel ammunition bodies with steel plates welded and mounted on the backs to haul the oil. [299]

Removal of the wooden water tanks complemented the continuing roadside cleanup program. Throughout 1927, privately funded work concentrated on the road from West Thumb via Lake to Canyon. Roadside cleanup was part of the road construction project from Canyon Junction to Tower Junction. The intent of this new road was to give the visitor "one last look at the Canyon before going over Dunraven Pass, and also to shut out the unsightly view that one sees from the old road, i.e., the backyard of the hotel, the transportation sheds, barns and buildings and old cuttings from previous logging operations." [300]

In 1928, Yellowstone's resident engineer, Merrill Daum, was named assistant superintendent and Cecil Lord was chosen to replace him. Lloyd Regnell was named Lord's assistant. The dust prevention program was augmented with six new white trucks, having 1,000-gallon capacity insulated tanks and a World War I surplus vehicle fleet for oiling the 180 miles of road. Approximately 500,000 gallons of heavy-duty road oil were hauled from the heating plant at Gardiner. While the use of the heavier oil achieved better results in dust abatement, it increased public complaints about its adhesion to vehicles. The Park responded by having a road grader distribute sand and gravel on the freshly oiled surface. In the end, this produced a thicker more desirable mat. [301]

Three new road projects were initiated in 1928, Norris Junction to Madison Junction, East Entrance to Sylvan Pass and the Grayling Creek section of the West Gallatin Road. New road camp buildings were constructed at Madison Junction, Norris Junction, and Lewis River. [302]

Several landscape architecture issues loomed during 1928, the most serious of which was precipitated by a careless contractor and the abusive use of explosives. The resultant destruction of trees, shrubbery, and telephone lines for a 1/8-of-a-mile segment along the Sylvan Pass to East Entrance Road left a furious Albright blaming the Bureau of Public Roads, the contractor, and the Landscape Division of the National Park Service, and calling this "an excellent example of the type of work which we do not want in the parks." Albright demanded a tightening of all new end hauling specifications and the approval of the chief landscape architect for any excess material being stored along points of work. [303]

Yellowstone's landscape architect supervised the effacement of some of the old, disused road sections in the Park. Roads were first plowed and reseeded. In addition, Chief Landscape Architect Thomas Vint suggested the roads be covered with manure to promote more rapid vegetation growth. [304] He also requested that during the reconstruction or construction of roads "when we limb trees along the right-of-way for construction purposes or to improve the sight distance or similar reasons, he would much rather that we would fell the trees as he does not like to see trees covered with axe marks and minus limbs." [305]

By the end of 1928, the interdepartmental relationship between Interior's National Park Service and Agriculture's Bureau of Public Roads had been responsible for the survey and identification of reconstruction needs for approximately 1,500 miles of park roads with an estimated $50 million tab. As of 1928, Congress had authorized $17,500,000 and had appropriated in cash $15 million. Under the cooperative agreement with the Bureau of Public Roads, 211 miles had been completed, an additional 103 miles were underway, and 61 miles would be started in 1929. senior highway engineer, Bureau of Public Roads, wrote:

. . . By reason of the rugged mountainous character of most of the parks, road construction in these areas involves engineering problems of more than ordinary difficulty, . . . the solution involves spectacular features which give to these roads high rank among the most interesting highways in the world. In all the work done, close attention is given to the preservation of the natural beauty of the landscape. The Park Service sees to that. Heavy cuts are avoided by rolling grades and graceful curves which closely fit the topography. In making the side-hill cuts which are unavoidable the plans provide for future covering of the banks on the upper side with ferns, flowers, and shrubs, and the excavated material is not cast down on the lower side as in ordinary road construction but is hauled to locations where it can be disposed of without scarring the landscape. The existing tree growth is saved wherever possible. Bridges, faced with native stone, are designed to blend harmoniously with the natural surroundings; and the highways are designed in every respect to develop and give access to the natural beauty spots and to detract as little as possible from the undisturbed beauty of reservations. The roads are not designed as speedways but with the idea that they will be traveled at speeds which will permit observation of the scenery; and ample parking spaces are provided for more leisure study. [306]

The closing of 1928 saw the history of Yellowstone entering a new period. Horace Albright, who had served as superintendent longer than any other person (June 28, 1919 to January 12, 1929) replaced Stephen Mather, who had resigned due to ill health, as director of the National Park Service. Albright had assumed the administration of the Park when responsibility for the road system had been transferred from the Army to the fledgling Civil Engineering and Landscape Architecture Divisions of the National Park Service. These were very important times in the history and development of the road system, because Yellowstone was faced with the transition of a road system designed and built for animal-drawn vehicles, to a road system used by the ever-increasing numbers of motor vehicles. Albright, as field director, also assisted Mather in establishing the working relationship between the National Park Service and the Bureau of Public Roads.

By the time Albright left Yellowstone, the Park had an annual visitation of 230,984, with 183,565 of them arriving in 58,028 automobiles. Most of the others, 41,697, were rail visitors. The road system covered 305 miles—Grand Loop, 142 miles; the entrance and connecting roads, 79.6 miles; roads to certain points of interest, 83.4 miles. In addition to the intra-park system, Yellowstone maintained the 32 miles of approach roads through the Teton National Forest and 28 miles of approach roads through the Shoshone National Forest. [307]