, 1922-01-26

little if any travel on them with the
exception of the rural mail d-livery.
The County or State had no right of
way to speak of, and where there
were any roads or trails, their loca-
ton was such as made it impractical,
to retain the existing lines. There
was probably no bridge in the stare
suitable for carrying modern traffic
such as improved roads would de-
velop. With this condition it was
necessary to lay out over the STATE
a completely new, and comprehen-
sive State Highway System in ac-
cordance with the Federal Act. and
Government aid was to be confined to
work done on this system. In the
older States in the East where road
surveys had been made and the
counties had Rights of Way, the
submission to the Government of a
State System Of Roads did not in
vOlve any particularly great under
taking, but here in Wyoming where
all the Surveys had to be made and
Rights of Way secured before WORK
could be started. the New Highway
Commission faced a tremendous task.
The Commission wisely adopted
The plan OF making haste slowly, in
those early years, and worked on the
basis of selecting once and for al!
the proper and final location of each
road and the type of construction
required for its improvement. This
policy was considerably at variance
with the policy of some States. who
jumped headlong into a tremendous
program of road construction, anxious
only to use up every dollar of Fed
nrn ,,,Drn,. fh.f o>rl1 lr ~, t.,
the shortest possible time. and with
little or no thought of whether the
future would justify the expense.
Hence. this policy won for the Com
mission more or less criticism. but
the knowledge now that Wyoming's
policy was sound. and that it has
made possible more rapid develop
ment at this time has largely done
away with former criticism.
The State Highway System origin
ally laid out consisted principally of
three trunk routes, n running
East and West through the Southern
part OF the State, paralleling the
Union Pacific Railroad, and known
as the Lincoln Highway, one running
in a Northwesterly direction through
Cheyenne. Wheatland, Douglas, Cas-
pei. lHei HIOpoli anu SOuy " Tie
Park. known as the Yellowstone
Highway. and the third running in
an Easterly direction through Sheri-
dan. Buffalo and Newcastle, being a
link of the Omaha-Billings route. or
popularity known as the Black and
yellow trail. These three routes
were connected together by Norther-
ly and S%outherly lines through. i'm
pOrtant points such as Lusk. Casper,
T~orrington, Rawlins. Lander, Rock
Springs and other points. so that
every center of population had three
or more outlets in various directions.
The original system comprised ap-
p~rOXimately 1000 miles of road. and
application was made for Federal Aid
during 1917 for thirteen projects
ag%gregating IT'S miles of which fol-
projects aggregating 43 miles were
approved at Washington during that
year.
Active construction commenced
early in the year of 1918, the Depart
mont working under all the disad-
vantages of war times, with great
scarcity OF labor and materials, and
uncertain transportation conditions.
The four projects mentioned above
were carried to completion in 1919.
making the first Federal Aided
Roads in this State. accepted and
partly Maid for by the Government.
In the meantime surveys and