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D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • S P R I N G 2 0 2 4
into a network of roads
that would span the
nation: "A good road
from Plymouth Rock to
Puget Sound." Federal
funding was approved
in 1916, and the 3,719-
mile Yellowstone Trail,
with its distinctive
black-and-yellow arrow route markers, connected and improved
existing roadways to create a solid, coast-to-coast circuit: the
first transcontinental highway.
The Yellowstone Trail crossed Montana's eastern border at Is-
may, and was instrumental in forcing the state to acknowledge
the sorry condition of its roads. At this time the U.S. was em-
broiled in the First World War, spurring a boom in production
that caused the federal government to seize the railroads to trans-
port matériel from the Midwest to eastern ports for shipment
overseas. The railroads were overwhelmed, and trucking picked
up the slack. Now the
muscle of the military
went into building de-
cent roads and bridges
that could support the
heavy trucking traffic.
It was a mighty chal-
lenge at the time—as-
phalt, oil and tar were
largely funneled to the war effort overseas, severely hampering
the construction of military roads at home. Steel used in bridge
building was also scarce. Despite these hindrances, shipping
routes were beefed up, and by 1918 the trucking industry had
been established as an important cog in the manufacturing
realm. Trucks were plying the roads of Montana as fast as they
could be built.
It was the copper industry of the Richest Hill on Earth that ne-
cessitated Montana's first paved road in 1921. A nine-mile strip
of concrete between Butte and Anaconda, designated Highway
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Interstate and State highways of Montana
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