Jon Axline - The Beartooth Highway: A History of Americas Most Beautiful Drive

Published by The History Press
Charleston, SC
www.historypress.net

Copyright 2016 by Jon Axline
All rights reserved

Cover, top: Flashs Photography, Red Lodge.

First published 2016
e-book edition 2016

ISBN 978.1.43965.713.3

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016935732

print edition ISBN 978.1.46713.579.5

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

For Janene Caywoodcolleague and, most importantly, friend.

I recall reading an axiom once that stated, perhaps facetiously, that history doesnt repeat itself; historians merely repeat one another. To some degree thats true, since every new history book relies on the research done by othersalong with, ideally, new research to make the book interesting. This modest book is no exception. I relied heavily on past publications and new information from the Yellowstone National Park archives in Gardiner, Montana. Some of this you may have seen before, but I bet there is some information in here you havent yet seen. This history doesnt tell the whole story of the highwaythat would have far exceeded my publisher-imposed word limitbut its a good start.

In 2014, the National Park Service, along with the blessings of the Montana and Wyoming Departments of Transportation, listed the Beartooth Highway on the National Register of Historic Places, a well-deserved honor that was long in coming. The National Register nomination provides the most comprehensive history of the Beartooth Highway. For that, I thank the efforts of my colleagues at Historical Research Associates in Missoula, Montana, and especially Janene Caywood. Yellowstone National Park archaeologist Elaine Hale shepherded the nomination through federal and state government bureaucracies and was there to receive a certificate for her patience at the Montana State Historic Preservation Offices biennial awards ceremony in 2015.

People who provided valuable assistance for this book include Debbi Brown, Dana Wahlquist and Samantha Long at the Carbon County Historical Society in Red Lodge; the staff at the Montana Historical Societys Research Center; and, as ever, my co-workers at the Montana Department of Transportation. Id also like to recognize Mark and Ellen Baumler, John Boughton, Kate Hampton, my much-valued associates on the Montana State Historic Preservation Review Board and my contact at The History Press, Artie Crisp. Finally, I couldnt do any of this without the love and support of my family, Lisa, Kate and Kira.

After many years of argument, debate and inactivity, the Beartooth Highway was finally listed in the National Register of Historic Places in May 2014. Work on the nomination began in the early 2000s, when the Forest Service hired the Missoula firm of Historical Research Associates to research and write the nomination for the highway. The process took over a decade to complete, and the result was, in my opinion, the most comprehensive history of the origins, construction and significance of one of the United States most famous and scenic highways. The National Register nomination describes the highway and firmly places it in context of the time it was constructed. The Beartooth Highway, as many realized, was a Great Depressionera make work project to put unemployed men to work and, in the process, not only regenerate the economies of Red Lodge and Cooke City but also provide a new, and extremely scenic, access to Yellowstone National Park. Consequently, the history of the Beartooth Highway is tied inextricably with the history of Red Lodge, Cooke City and the park. The National Register nomination filled in a gap in our understanding of the region and the highway and why it is so significant not only to south-central Montana but also to the history of the state during that turbulent decade.

Perhaps not surprising, the discussions between the National Park Service and the Montana and Wyoming Departments of Transportation reflected many of the issues that have involved the highway since it was constructed in the 1930s. While the park service supported the development of the nomination, debate arose at the DOTs about the impact the National Register listing would have on the agencies. Initially, both DOTs opposed the nomination. I sat in on some of the discussions, and the dialogue centered on the maintenance of the highway. Wyoming believesand not without reasonthat the highway benefits Montana and Yellowstone National Park, not its state. The National Park Service would like to rid itself of the responsibility of the highway between the northeast entrance and the Montana state line at Line Creek. The Montana Department of Transportation will continue to maintain the fifteen miles of highway south of Red Lodge but was worried how the National Register nomination might impact its ongoing programs to take care of the route and keep it safe for travelers. In the end, however, those issues were resolved, and the agencies support for the nomination resulted in the National Register listing in 2014. It was interesting for a Montana historian to experience issues that have been ongoing since 1931.

Through all of this, though, is the Beartooth Highway, an All-American Road that has been praised for the amazing scenic vistas visible from it and as an engineering marvel. This is the story of the origins of the highway; the political wrangling that occurred in Montana and Washington, D.C., to get it authorized and funded; its construction; and what has happened with it afterward. Its a great story and not indicative of the history of other highways in Montana. Although it faced some of the same issues as other highways, the Beartooth Highway seems to be, in many ways, a fusion of the history of road construction in Montana during the 1930s. No highway, with the exception of the Going to the Sun Highway in Glacier National Park, has been so richly described, however. So sit back and enjoy this trip over the Top of the World, the Beartooth Highway.

The spectacular Beartooth Highway has been a magnet for tourists and photographers since its completion in 1936. Carbon County Historical Society.

In the Beartooth mountains is found all the old majestic beauty of the Swiss Alps, yet there is something different, too, something wild and wondrous about this rugged, richly wooded country that one surveys from the countrys highest and most novel highway11,000 feet high.

Helena Independent, June 23, 1936

Montana is a state filled with scenic highways. No matter the western one-third or the eastern two-thirds of the state, motorists are sure to be treated to highways that pass through some of the most beautiful panoramas in the lower forty-eight states. But despite that, travelogues mostly concentrate on the two drives in Montana that are the most spectacular: the Going to the Sun Highway in Glacier National Park and the Beartooth Highway between Red Lodge and the northeast entrance to Yellowstone National Park. Both highways were constructed within just a few years of each other, and both traverse some of the most rugged topography in the northern Rocky Mountains. Some might say that neither road should have been built or that it would be impossible to build roads like them today. Stories of the construction of the highways are epic and include extraordinary engineering techniques, sometimes death-defying construction practices on the part of the contractors and completed roads and vistas that continue to boggle the ability of motorists to describe. While the story of the Going to the Sun Highway is well known, the story of the origins, construction and maintenance of the Beartooth Highway is less so. Descriptions of the Beartooth abound, as do accounts by those who have experienced it. But the story of where it came from, how it was built, the men who built it and issues about who is responsible for it and the difficulty of maintaining it are less known. This book will answer at least some of those questions and, hopefully, add to the experience of those driving the Beartooth Highway.