Last updated: June 20, 2026
Place
Echo Canyon Billboard 1
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Location:
Echo Canyon Rd, a frontage road parallel to I-80, about 2.3 miles northeast of the I-80 Echo Interchange. GPS viewing location 41.004464 -111.385653
Significance:
Travelers through Echo Canyon would see this sign (“billboard”) advertising a 19th century patent medicine. A second sign advertises Salt Lake House, a popular hotel in Salt Lake City.
Designation:
Historic site on the California and Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trails.
MANAGED BY:
Utah
Amenities
2 listed
Parking - Auto, Scenic View/Photo Spot
These hand-painted signs on the side of a cliff in Echo Canyon, Utah, advertised Salt Lake House, a popular hotel in downtown Salt Lake City, and Plantation Bitters, a patent medicine peddled by Col. J. H. Drake beginning in 1860. The bitters ad might have been viewed by emigrants passing through the canyon, but the Salt Lake House ad is much later, as that hotel opened in 1911.
Drake claimed his bitters would cure “headache and languor,” “morning lassitude and depression of spirits,” and dyspepsia – plus it could make people cheerful and contented! Because it contained 33% Santa Cruz rum, Plantation Bitters could have other effects, especially if patients followed the dosage recommendation of 3 full wine glasses daily.
Drake would paint his advertisements on rock outcrops and the sides of buildings, then lodge at a nice hotel and invite potential patients to drop by for free medical consultation. Not surprisingly, Drake always recommended Plantation Bitters to cure what ailed them. Thanks to the colonel’s aggressive salesmanship, Plantation Bitters became a very popular part of household medicine kits until the Pure Food and Drug Act shut it down in 1906.
To find the site, look for Summit County Tour sign No. 7 on the north side of Echo Canyon Rd. An access road with a red gate provides space to park. Look up at the base of the cliff where a slight overhang shelters a relatively smooth panel of rock. The Plantation Bitters ad is on the left side of that, where it might be obscured by trees. The Salt Lake House advertisement is fading and partially covered with mineral accretion but can still be read from the roadside. Additional writing to the right of that is nearly illegible.
Site Information
Location (Echo Canyon Rd, a frontage road parallel to I-80, about 2.3 miles northeast of the I-80 Echo Interchange. GPS viewing location 41.004464 -111.385653)