Distinctly Montana Magazine

45 w w w. d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m Open 7 Days / Week 8am - 2am Entertainment 5 Nights / Week Live Music, Casino & Food 406.728.1559 1101 Strand Avenue, Missoula Sunrise SaloonandCasino.com Missoula's only country-western bar and largest dance floor 2022-23 of B E S T M O N TA N A A S V O T E D B Y R E A D E R S O F Y E A R S WO N W I N N E R ! NOMINATE US WIN $1000 FOR YOUR CHANCE TO 1, provided a solid passage for heavy machinery and supply ve- hicles between the copper mines and the smelter operation. The copper ore itself was shipped via rail in 50-ton carloads. As automobiles continued to take over Montana's roads, the issue of funding for road building and improvement was al- ways on the table for the state legislature. The State Highway Commission was created in 1913, the same year vehicle regis- tration and taxes were implemented. By 1915 there were 20,000 autos putt-putting around Montana, and road builders found that self-propelled vehicles needed different road designs than horse-drawn stagecoaches and carriages. Civil engineers de- signed roads with a more durable surface, graded switchbacks and fewer curves. Montana State Prison warden Frank Conley, a member of the commission, suggested using convicts to provide the labor for the ambitious new roads. Under Conley's reign, in- carcerated laborers built some 230 miles of state roads, includ- ing the 27-mile stretch of Highway 35 that runs up the east side of Flathead Lake. Apparently, the dicey issue of indentured la- bor was sidestepped by paying the convicts 50 cents a day. The inmate labor program was shut down after 12 years under pres- sure from private highway contractors and organized labor. While a top layer of gravel was a major improvement over a raw dirt road, in 1929 road crews made a great leap forward when they began pouring crude oil over the gravel, which elim- inated most of the dust. The oil sealed the gravel in place, and hardened the whole mess into a durable, water-repellent sur- face. That feeling you get when you're driving along a dirt road and you finally hit asphalt? That's called bituminous joy. The Great Depression put the brakes on Montana's road pro- gram for several years, but the Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, part of FDR's New Deal, pumped $6 million into the state's high- way program. Another $4 million came from the Hayden-Cart- wright Act the following year. By the end of the 1930s, Montana had 7,300 miles of paved roads and 1,360 new bridges. Today, as thousands of drivers crisscross Montana on its com- plex road system, we tend to complain about construction delays or the back roads that could use some TLC after a winter of na- ture's abuse. We don't give much thought to the efforts of those early nomads and pioneers who, on a good day, covered 30 miles on the rough and rutted trails that passed for roads when most folks still got around using one horsepower. Thanks to their determination and perseverance, now we sail smoothly along at 80 per on velvety blacktop, taking for granted the crowned roadbeds, rumble strips, thermoplastic reflective lines, historical markers, rest stops—all the improvements and innovations that have evolved to meet the needs of tourists, truckers, road trip- pers, commuters, first responders, and everyone else who puts the rubber to the road in Montana.

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