Auto trail

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The system of auto trails was an informal network of marked routes that existed in the United States and Canada in the early part of the 20th century. Marked with colored bands on telephone poles, the trails were intended to help travellers in the early days of the automobile.

Auto trails were usually marked and sometimes maintained by organizations of private individuals. Some, such as the Lincoln Highway Association, were well-known and well-organized, while others were the work of fly-by-night promoters. It has been said^[who?] that anyone with enough paint and the will to do so could set up a trail; trails were not usually linked to road improvements, though counties and states often prioritized road improvements because they were on trails.

In the mid-to-late 1920s, the auto trails were essentially replaced in the United States with the system of numbered U.S. Highways. Similar numbering schemes had begun to be implemented in the Canadian provinces as well.

Contents 1 List of auto trails 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

[edit] List of auto trails

Name	North or east end	South or west end	U.S. Highways (approximate, based on 1926 plan and later additions)	Notes
Albert Pike Highway	Hot Springs, AR	Colorado Springs, CO	US 270, US 64, US 183, US 154, US 50, US 85
Arrowhead Trail	Salt Lake City, UT	Los Angeles, CA	US 91
Atlantic Highway	Calais, ME	Miami, FL	US 1, US 25, US 17, US 1
Atlantic-Pacific Highway	New York, NY	Los Angeles, CA	US 1, US 211, US 15, US 33, US 60, US 52, US 460, US 50, US 54, US 70, US 60
Atlantic Yellowstone Pacific Highway	Chicago, IL	Sioux Falls, SD	US 20, US 218, US 18
Bankhead Highway	Washington, DC	San Diego, CA	US 1, US 15, US 70, US 170, US 29, US 78, US 70, US 67, US 80
Bee Line Highway
Ben Hur Highway	St. Louis, MO	Fort Dodge, IA
Black and Yellow Trail	Chicago, IL	Yellowstone National Park	US 41, US 16, US 14, US 16, US 20
Blackhawk Highway	Dixon, IL	Beloit, WI
California-Banff Bee Line
Capital Route	Omaha, NE	Austin, TX
Chicago, Kansas City and Gulf Highway	Chicago, IL	Galveston, TX
Colorado to Gulf Highway	Denver, CO	Galveston, TX and Brownsville, TX	US 85, US 385, US 370, US 81, US 181
Columbia River Highway	Pendleton, OR	Portland, OR	US 30
Cooley Highway
Cornhusker Highway	Sioux City, IA	Oklahoma City, OK
Custer Battlefield Highway	Omaha, NE	Glacier National Park	US 75, US 16, US 116, US 87E, US 87
Dallas-Canadian-Denver Highway	Boulder, CO	Galveston, TX	US 85, US 50, US 83, US 70, US 77
Detroit-Lincoln-Denver Highway	Detroit, MI	Denver, CO	US 12, US 32, US 38
Dixie Highway	Chicago, IL and Sault Ste. Marie, MI	Miami, FL
Dixie Bee Line	Chicago, IL	Nashville, TN	US 41, US 241
Dixie Overland Highway	Savannah, GA	San Diego, CA	US 80, US 84, US 380, US 366, US 80
Evergreen National Highway	Victoria, BC	El Paso, TX	US 99, US 10, US 97, US 410, US 95, US 30, US 30N, US 91, US 95, US 66
Florida Short Route
George Washington National Highway	Savannah, GA	Seattle, WA
Geysers-to-Glaciers Highway	Glacier National Park	Yellowstone National Park
Glacier to Gulf Motorway	Calgary, AB	Tampico, Mexico
Glacier Trail	Seattle, WA	Miami, FL
Grant Highway	Chicago, IL	Portland, OR
International Peace Highway	Quebec, QC and Rouses Point, NY	Laredo, TX and Mexico City, Mexico
Jackson Highway	Chicago, IL	New Orleans, LA	US 152, US 52, US 31, US 168, US 68, US 31, US 43, US 45, US 11
Jefferson Highway	Winnipeg, MB	New Orleans, LA	US 59, US 2, US 71, US 10N, US 10, US 65, US 69, US 71/US 73E, US 73, US 75, US 69, US 67, US 271, US 80, US 171, US 71, US 61
Jefferson Davis National Highway	Washington, DC	San Francisco, CA	US 1, US 278, US 29, US 80, US 43, US 90, US 96, US 277, US 90
John Anderson Highway
King of Trails	Winnipeg, MB	Galveston, TX and Brownsville, TX	US 75/US 81, US 75/US 77, US 75, US 73, US 73E, US 50, US 73W, US 75, US 77, US 81, US 181, US 96
Kings Transcontinental Highway	Ottawa	Toronto
Lackawanna Trail	Binghamton, NY	Delaware, NJ
Lakes to Gulf Highway	Duluth, MN	Galveston, TX
Lakes-to-Sea Highway	Atlantic City, NJ	Erie, PA	US 30, US 120, US 22, US 322, US 19
Lee Highway	New York, NY	San Francisco, CA	US 1, US 211, US 11, US 72, US 70, US 366, US 80, US 180, US 80, US 101
Lewis and Clark Highway	Missoula, MT	Lewiston, ID
Liberty Highway
Lincoln Highway	New York, NY	San Francisco, CA	US 1, US 30, US 530, US 40, US 50, US 40, US 99, US 48
Logan-Lee Highway	Rock Island, IL	Paducah, KY
Lone Star Route	Chicago, IL	Lake Charles, LA (earlier Brownsville, TX)	US 66, US 67, US 63, US 165
Lone Star Trail	St. Augustine, FL	Los Angeles, CA	US 1, US 90, US 84, US 67, US 290, US 80
Magnolia Route
Meridian Highway	Winnipeg, MB	Mexico City, Mexico	US 81
Mississippi River Scenic Highway	Winnipeg, MB and Port Arthur, ON	Fort Myers, FL and Port Arthur, TX	US 75, US 2, US 71, US 10N, US 10, US 61, US 55, US 61, US 90; US 49E, US 49, US 98, US 90, US 19, US 41
Mississippi Valley Highway	Ely, MN	Gulfport, MS (earlier New Orleans, LA)	US 53, US 61, US 55, US 161, US 67, US 51, US 45, US 11, US 49	Earlier known as the Burlington Way
National Old Trails Road	Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD	Los Angeles, CA	US 240/US 40, US 40, US 50N, US 50, US 350, US 85, US 70, US 66
National Park-to-Park Highway	Loop connecting National Parks		US 99, US 48, US 40, US 99E, US 99, US 10, US 195, US 95, US 2, US 87, US 87W, US 20, US 185, US 85, US 50, US 285, US 450, US 550, US 64, US 666, US 66
National Parks Highway	Boston, MA and New York, NY	Seattle, WA		Also known as the Northwest Trail
National Roosevelt Midland Trail	Washington, DC and Newport News, VA (earlier Oyster Bay, NY)	Los Angeles, CA	US 60, US 150, US 50, US 40, US 40N, US 40, US 40S, US 50, US 6
National White Way
New Santa Fe Trail
Old Oregon Trail	Independence, MO	Seaside, OR and Olympia, WA	US 40, US 30, US 26, US 20, US 87E, US 30N, US 30
Old Spanish Trail	St. Augustine, FL	San Diego, CA	US 1, US 90, US 80
Ozark Trails	Kansas City, MO, Hannibal, MO, St. Louis, MO, and Memphis, TN	Denver, CO, Las Vegas, NM, and El Paso, TX
Pacific Highway	Vancouver, BC	San Diego, CA	US 99, US 40, US 101
Pershing Way	Winnipeg, MB	New Orleans, LA
Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway	New York, NY	Los Angeles, CA (earlier San Francisco, CA)	US 22, US 250, US 36, US 136, US 36, US 40N, US 40S, US 50, US 91	Also known as the Pershing Transport Route
Puget Sound-to-Gulf Highway
Red Ball Route
River-to-River Road	Davenport, IA	Omaha, NE
Southern National Highway
Southwest Trail	Chicago, IL	El Paso, TX	US 32, US 65, US 50S, US 81, US 160, US 281, US 60, US 366
Susquehanna Trail	Buffalo, NY	Washington, DC	US 20, US 15, US 111/US 240
Theodore Roosevelt International Highway	Portland, ME	Portland, OR	US 302, US 2, US 11, US 104, US 23, US 2, US 95, US 195, US 295, US 410, US 30
Three C Highway	Cleveland, OH	Cincinnati, OH	US 42
Victory Highway	New York, NY	San Francisco, CA	US 1, US 40, US 40S, US 83, US 40N, US 40
White River Trail	Springfield, MO	Ponca City, OK
William Penn Highway			US 22
Yellowstone Highway	Denver, CO	Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone Trail	Plymouth, MA	Seattle, WA	US 20, US 30, US 41, US 110, US 10, US 212, US 12, US 10, US 195, US 295, US 410, US 97, US 10

[edit] See also

• List of U.S. Routes
• U.S. Highway association

[edit] References

• American Automobile Association, Highways Green Book, 1922, pp. 418-420
• Clason Map Company, Midget Map of the Transcontinental Trails of the United States, 1923
• Automobile Club of America and National Highways Association, United States Touring Map, 1924
• Clason Map Company, Touring Atlas of the United States, 1925
• Rand McNally Auto Road Atlas, 1926, accessed via the Broer Map Library

[edit] External links

• North American Auto Trails
• Richard F. Weingroff, From Names to Numbers: The Origins of the U.S. Numbered Highway System