Yellowstone Trail
The Yellowstone Trail was the first transcontinental automobile highway through the upper tier of states in the United States, established on May 23, 1912. It was an Auto Trail that ran from the Atlantic Ocean in Plymouth, Massachusetts, through Montana to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, to the Pacific Ocean in Seattle, Washington. The road slogan was "A Good Road from Plymouth Rock to Puget Sound". History The Yellowstone Trail was conceived by Joseph William Parmley of Ipswich, South Dakota. In April 1912, the first step he and his local influential colleagues wanted was a good road from Ipswich over to Aberdeen, also in South Dakota. By May, the intent had expanded to get a transcontinental route built, including to the popular tourist destination to the west, Yellowstone National Park. The automobile was just becoming popular, but there were few good all weather roads, no useful long distance roads, and no government marked routes. The federal government had not built roads in the 19th century, except for the National Road (aka National Pike) from Washington, D.C. to Vandalia, Illinois. Many states had constitutions that forbade "internal improvements." The Yellowstone Trail developed in parallel with the nationwide effort for internal improvements,