mobilene

I know this is the American Road forum, but permit me a diversion to direct you to this unbelievable Web site chock full of historic photos that tell the history of highways in Canada. http://www.thekingshighway.ca/

Denny gave you a couple good resources that, if you explore them, should start to answer your questions. jim

That is some amazing roadbuilding! jim

Found this 1977 article online about US 395 in San Diego county -- old alignment fans take note! http://members.cox.net/mkpl5/hist2/fe395.html Mother site promises to have info and photos of more SanDag highways of old: http://members.cox.net/mkpl2/hist/sdhist.html

I learned today that the cooling tower that so ungracefully marks the end of the Michigan Road is the site of a former great sand dune called the Hoosier Slide. "Hoosier Slide was a huge sand dune bordering the west side of Trail Creek where it entered Lake Michigan. At one time it was nearly 200 feet tall, mantled with trees. Cow paths marked its slopes and people picnicked upon its crest. With the development of Michigan City, the timber was cut for building construction and the sand began to blow, sometimes blanketing the main business district of the town on Front Street, which nestled near its base. Climbing Hoosier Slide was very popular in the late 1800's with the excursionist crowds who arrived in town by boat and train from Chicago and other cities. The summit, where weddings were sometimes held, afforded an excellent view of the vast lumberyards which then covered the Washington Park area. When it was discovered that the clean sands of Hoosier Slide were useful for glassmaking, the huge dune began to be mined away. Dock workers loaded the sand into railroad cars with shovel and wheelbarrow to be shipped to glassmakers in the U. S. and Mexico. Much of the sand also went to Chicago in the 1890's as fill for Jackson Park and for the Illinois Central RR right-of-way. Over a period of 30 years, from about 1890 to 1920, 13 1/2 million tons of sand were shipped from Hoosier Slide until the great dune was leveled. NIPSCO [a public utility company] acquired the site for use as a generating plant in the late 1920's." - From Portable LaPorte County.

I'm interested, and I might be able to make the time. jim

Denny, I feel honored that you took the time to slog through all 1,000+ photos. Thank you! Next phase is to create some sort of document that tells the story of the road -- some history; some old photos, maps, and drawings; and the best of my photos. I'm trying to figure out how best to present the material; I think my usual approach would be unwieldy. I'm hoping to spend the late fall and winter months working on it in my spare time. Thanks, jim

I'm a little slow on the draw but I finally managed to read the trip report. Except for the rain, it looks like a great trip, with plenty of excellent things to see. I am blown away by the collapsed road with the tree growing in it. I also enjoyed seeing the yellow brick road. Great stuff!

Dave, finding that 1916 road sure is the stuff, isn't it? This is the kind of thing I always hope to find, and when I do, well, roadgeeking just doesn't get much better. Your photo of the old road is great, and it's too bad the road goes behind that fence. Your posts are seriously pushing me toward doing this map overlay thing. Who knows what great juicy stuff I'll find? jim

http://www.floodgap.com/roadgap/395/ A fellow named Cameron Kaiser has a deep and abiding love for US 395, all 1,305 miles of it, including portions decommissioned when I-15 was completed in 1969. He's traveled the road end to end and has written an almost loving tribute to it, in 49 parts. And I thought 270 miles of the Michigan Road was an ambitious project. jim

Now THAT, my friend, is worth waking up in the morning for!! What I wonder now is what happened to the rest of that road? When did it fade away? Why was it allowed to fade away? I can see I need to get some old Indiana USGS maps and so some comparing along the Michigan Road. There are probably some variances in route in the South Bend - Michigan City portion of the route.

Looking at Tumwater and the airport on Google Maps, it looks to me like the original road (or at least a road on the original corridor) is there through most of the airport - the road that becomes Tilley Rd. south of the airport, anyway. What an interesting way to discourage settlers you don't want -- promises of public floggings. Wow. The Totem Pole bridge is really cool. You don't see many bridges like that... certainly not on the Michigan Road!

I think there are more wood frame houses on the Michigan Road than my photos give credit for -- it wasn't until I met up with the dude in Plymouth who gave me some pointers on how to recognize older houses that I started seeing some of the older frame homes. And it's entirely possible that there were many wooden bridges -- probably covered -- along the route, but that they have all since been replaced with cement bridges. Perhaps it's safe to say that stone was not in the mix where you are, while it was where I am!

Oops, that's supposed to be two different photos. Try this index page. http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm4/resu...CISOBOX1=Trails

I don't know much about it myself, but I did find a couple old photos of the building with a sign above reading "Old Trails Auto Insurance." http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm4/item...BOX=1&REC=1 http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm4/item...BOX=1&REC=2

Des Chutes, hunh? I agree that the tone of the article suggests it's earlier rather than later. The light post you found reminds me of the ones along the Michigan Road in Plymouth, IN. Photo below. Each reads, "DO NOT HITCH TO THIS POST CITY OF PLYMOUTH" -- do the ones on the end of Capitol Way give any messages of times past?

I have now uploaded, tagged, titled, geotagged, and described the photos from the entire Michigan Road omnibus excursion. It's somewhere north of 1,000 photos. It's here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mobilene/sets...57605001968216/. I'm making a return cruise through the southern half of the road the first of October and will photograph a few things I missed, and there are a few spots on the road north of Indy I mean to photograph (even have a sticky note on my dasboard to remind me of them), but for all intents and purposes this is it, I'm done. Whew! Next I'll get back to writing up the story for my jimgrey.net space. jim

Eagerly awaiting your next report.

Aieee!! What nincompoop approved obliterating the downtown of one of Washington's oldest settlements with an Interstate?!!?!?!? That photo of Long Bridge is great, and sure helps place it on the map. And figuring out the "dogleg" using 27th St. to connect Capitol Blvd. and Capitol Way is excellent. Further explains (beyond I-5 being there) why Capitol Blvd. dead ends where it does. Any idea when this routing disappeared?

Dave, this is utterly fascinating, and I eagerly await the next installment! jim

I looked up the US 13 bridge/tunnel -- very, very cool!

I went to Google Maps and found that stub of Old Oregon Trail. It looks like the approach to the sound and the bridge were lost to I-5. How exciting to find a one-laner back there. I take it it's just an access road to the house at the end. Sad that the modern map shows no trace of many of the old roads from your 1891 map. Side note: What is up with the satellite imagery? Heavy cloud cover in one section, plus a major resolution change, makes things really hard to see.

I love seeing that the Olympian Hotel still stands. Is it still a hotel? So many remaining old hotels aren't hotels anymore. And I always like to stop and look at an old bus station, esp. one with gleaming chrome.

http://shantan.wordpress.com/2008/09/04/ro...h-crazy-routes/ http://shantan.wordpress.com/2008/09/04/dr...beauty-shantan/ I'd love to drive the bridge that becomes the underwater tunnel before becoming a bridge again.

Wow. I have a couple panoramas I've stitched together manually; I'll have to try it on them.