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Celebrating our two-lane highways of yesteryear…And the joys of driving them today!

701&02 National Parks Highway - Missoula To Three Forks


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I'm going to try to post two days in one gulp. I stayed in Missoula on Wednesday evening and toured the old downtown in the morning, catching a photo of the Palace Hotel, recommended in the 1917 National Parks Highway Motorists Service Guide..

 

I headed east on I-90 and turned south at Drummond which was on both the NPH and the YT. I snapped a few ghost signs and the main drag, but didn't stay long as I wanted to get onto the section of National Parks Trail that goes south via Phillipsburg and Anaconda. The Yellowstone Trail went via Deer Lodge and was not the ABB recommended route (in 1920) due to the rough road over the mountains.

 

On the way to Philipsburg I photographed a National Parks Highway alignment between Drummond and Philipsburg. It follows the modern highway (US10A) quite closely in spots, usually on the east side and will be easily spotted. It follows the contour or the hillsides about two feet above the valley floor most of the time, to avoid spring mud whenever possible.

 

ARNPHDP.jpg

 

I pulled off at Hall to see what was there and noticed a strange road sign "New Chicago Road." Maybe there was a town of "New Chicago" but there was also a road by the name of the National Parks Highway that went to Chicago....in the teens. Is it possible that this was a reference to a road that the local residents were proud went to Chicago? Long shot, but I drove it back north and need to do some research. The old pavement on part of it matched the old pavement on the abandoned NPH sections.....(this is a scouting trip!) To add to the interest the New Chicago Road intersected a road called Mullen Road! In a word, the Mullen Road was a route between Walla Walla and Ft Benton (near present Great Falls). I don't know its route around here, but John will.

 

I got a couple of shots of Phillipsburg hotels and of the main street. Phillipsburg was on the NPH, but that is a secret only you know! The Stephens was recommended in 1917, but I couldn't book a room when I got there!

 

ARStephens.jpg

 

 

Between Philipsburg and Anaconda I spotted another segment of the old road alignment, but it was on the other side of a small creek, so I couldn't walk it. The roadbed is only about 8 feet wide so it is not likely to be very recent! But it is paved, again with the same pavement I viewed between Drummond and Philipsburg and on the New Chicago road. You can see the modern road in the background.

 

This is the National Parks Highway, the real thing....and you are in on the rediscovery! WOW.......Right? Just like the girls behind the desk reacted when I told them what I was doing...."That's nice!"

 

ARNPHPA.jpg

 

The Montana Hotel still stands in Anaconda, at least its outer shell. My grandfather no doubt saw that hotel over 100 years ago, but I doubt he stayed there, He was a miner and got his citizenship papers in Anaconda. I doubt that miners stayed at the Montana!

 

ARHotelMontana.jpg

 

I drove on to Butte and spent the night. Downtown Butte is on the National Parks Highway. I haven't mentioned that I am following the exact route of the National Parks Highway where my mapping efforts (and educated guesses) have allowed it, and Old Red can navigate it. I regret I don't have the time to detail it here, but I have the route on Deloreme TOPO USA and I have two GPS (one a back up) tracks of my actual route.

 

Butte has some terrific old hotels, but my "prize" is the Broadway Garage. It was recommended in the 1917 guide, as were some nearby hotels. You can see the Finlen Hotel in the background. Take out the modern car5s and this is the view someone had in 1917!!! And the gar5age and hotel are still in business!

 

 

This post doesn't do the wonders of Butte justice, and I hope I will do it "right" I am back home and have time to do the then and now material.. For now, it is not even a taste.

 

ARBroadway.jpg

 

I left Butte this morning and US10 and State2 over the mountains to Whitehall. An interesting motel sign caught my attention, but further down the street was one promoting treason, so I didn't stop for lunch. I drove on to Cardwell and took state 359 to Hamilton.

 

I thought about taking the dirt Yellowstone Trail route from north of Hamilton through Willow Springs to Three Forks. Unfortunately it has been a wet year and the road hasn't been graded . In spots there are chuck holes filled with water deep enough to bash the car. I know because I hit one. They are very hard to spot as the ground color masks them. Bottom line is I didn't care to drive at 5 mph for the distance. And since that section of the NPH/YT is well recognized and mapped, I didn't need to.

 

But I did want to get to Willow Springs on the NPH and YT. I chose a short dirt road, and got lucky! I crossed the Jefferson River on a 1914 steel truss double span bridge, complete with its original maker's plate, and an unpaved wooden bed. It was so sweet I tolerated the mosquitoes to get photos, 3D and movies.

 

ARWCBridgeMarker.jpg

 

 

ARWCBridge.jpg

 

 

Willow Springs is quaint and totally out of the way. And I discovered there is a paved road that gets to it, via Three Forks. But any other way, and it is dirt.....just like it was in the teens!

 

I drove from Willow Creek to Three Forks and stayed at the Sacajawea Hotel, as described elsewhere here.

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

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I think half of Montana is dirt or gravel roads. Back in 2001 I drove out to Miles City and linked up with a Hudson club member, Cloyd Steiner. Together we went to Spokane to the H-E-T club National meet.

 

Coming back Cloyd took me up I-15 thru Great Falls (no more great falls now since they dammed the river :() up to Fort Benton. From there we went north to up around Big Sandy, somewhere. From there it was back south over a narrow 2-lane road - I think it was MT 236, but can't remember now. All I know it was narrow, it was gravel and it was interesting meeting someone coming the other way - on one side was a 1000 foot drop in most places; on the other was the other side of the drop, only going straight up.

 

One thing I noticed about the cars (a few) and pickup trucks (a lot) out there - an awful lot of cracked windshields. Cloyd said them was people who didn't know enough to slow down around other cars (trucks).

 

Another thing I noticed out there - there's an awful lot of side roads. Cloyd told me those weren't side roads - those were driveways to ranches. He said if you broke down out there it was better to wait with your vehicle rather than try to walk up the drive-way - some of the ranch houses are 10 or more miles from the main highway. Cloyd said it's almost an un-written law in Montana - if you see a broke down car, you stop and see if you can help.

 

Beautiful scenery out there - up on the high ground can see for miles.

 

Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, tN

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