Looking South And A Bit East => ….A Mid September 2006 View of Rock Creek and Bluffs.

~6 miles South of Red Lodge, MT.

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Beartooth Highway’s Wild Wild West.=> “The History of a Wild Highway”.
…. ((The below Is an excerpt from The Full Original Post With 3 Really Neat 1930s Historical Photos. Click Here. ))

....It could be said that events leading to the construction of the Beartooth Highway were set in motion on March 1, 1872 when the Congress of the United States set aside Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first national park, a full 70 years before its eventual opening on June 14, 1936.
....Mining + Tourism = A Highway
....By 1880, following years of exploration by trappers, gold seekers, and government expeditions, followed by a rapid influx of tourists anxious to view the wonders of Yellowstone National Park, the mining communities of Cooke City and Red Lodge, Montana were well established. With gold, coal, and tourists to be moved these two communities recognized the importance of building transportation infrastructure for the area.
....It was quickly determined that building railways for hauling ore through Yellowstone National Park was not going to be an option. At the same time it was determined that, in order to take advantage of the economic development that tourism generated for a community, access from Red Lodge to Yellowstone National Park would need to be secured. Then, in the 1920’s the automobile became the preferred mode of transportation for visitors to the area and the need to develop a road system into and out of Yellowstone from the two communities galvanized community leaders to action. After years of lobbying by area citizen groups Montana’s then Congressman Scott Leavitt sponsored legislation called the Park Approach Act (H. R. 12404). The Park Approach Act provide for construction roads that led to National Parks and allowed construction of the Beartooth Highway to begin in 1931. Although it was originally intended to authorize a major national program of access roads to National Parks only one road was actually constructed under the legislation – the Beartooth Highway. (Excerpt Continued Next Photo.)

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(Photo = Summer2006 0493 ...... ZMM Page = NA ...... WayPt = 128p)