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there sponsored the idea of creating a highway that would be-
come a memorial to Roosevelt, the author, naturalist, explorer,
soldier and 26th President of the United States. When complet-
ed, they hoped the highway would stretch from Portland, Maine
to Portland, Oregon—a 4,060-mile collection of roads from Aca-
dia National Park (née Sieur de Monts National Monument and
Lafayette National Park) in Maine to what would become Olym-
pic National Park in Washington. One long pattern of roads
through the United States and Canada, where one could drive
at a time when automobiles were still brand new and paved rural
roads still did not exist.
In the early 1910s, auto trail organizations began to pop
up, which designated and promoted routes for the new recre-
ational pursuit of long-distance automobile travel. The most
prominent route was the Lincoln Highway, America's first
hard-surfaced transcontinental road, stretching from New York
City to San Francisco. While many auto clubs worked with lo-
cal officials and states to improve roadways, most roads were
nothing more than collection of signs guiding drivers along old
Indian paths and cattle crossings. Gravel and asphalt was not
something you would see on many of these roads.
The Theodore Roosevelt International Highway was so named
on January 6, 1919 by the United States Congress long before
the road was even close to being assembled. Many smaller states
