2. Navajo Trail And The 1918 Monumental Highway

[Keep the Show on the Road!]

The initial story of the Motor Men of 1917 appears HERE.

 

To briefly recap, in 1917 Dolph Andrus, Principal of the Bluff, Utah schools, and Dr W. H. Hopkins, Salt Lake City dentist, set out to blaze the Monumental Highway in Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. The name came no doubt from the fact that the “highway” ran through Monument Valley and near some of the world’s most spectacular natural rock monuments. The adventure was documented for the public in January 1918 issue of Good Roads Automobilist in my collection which is part of the above cited post link The map therein shows the route, some of which is today the famed Navajo Trail.

 

To my surprise and delight, about a month ago I received an e-mail from Berwyn Andrus, son of Dolph!! Since that time we have been corresponding, and I posted a couple of the photos he sent me at the end of the thread cited above. He has also sent me Dolph’s memoirs of the trip which he wrote in 1967, and additional photos.

 

In the “ain’t it a small world” category, it turns out that Dolph and I were practically neighbors. We lived about 6 miles apart in Southern California in the years 1948-1951, but I was 8 and he was in his 50’s, so even had we met, I probably would not have appreciated his story of Southwest exploration and adventure of 30 years earlier!

 

Berwyn sent me a 1912 Arizona map (below) and I have been trying to locate detailed historical maps of the area, such as GLO plat maps or USGS topo maps. I have been somewhat successful for the Utah part of the trip, but not so much for the Arizona part. I may have located historical USGS maps at a site in Prescott, but they are not on line.

 

 

I have overlaid the 1912 map on Google Earth (below) with a red dashed line showing the old road between the Utah state line and Tuba City. A comparison of the Monumental Highway (below) and the red road on the 1912 map show a significant difference only where they come into Tuba City, and the 1912 leg into Monument Valley near the top of the map. The conclusion would be that the 1912 road, the Monumental Highway, and the modern road in Arizona follow largely the same routes, except as noted above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have also been doing some background “research” on the route. There are some old photos and movies of places like the Red Lake Trading Post that played a part in the story. The Red Lake Trading Post is also of interest because it was near there that Dolph chiseled into a large stone surface the words “Monumental Highway.” That site would be almost as good as Navajo Silver in an old roadie’s world! I am forming some theories about the location of that gem, but that will wait until later.

 

MUCH MORE TO FOLLOW ON THE TRAIL OF THE MOTOR MEN OF 1917!

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

[beckyrepp]

Absolutely fantastic!