Seen Signs/Markers for ‘Yellowstone Trail’? Here’s What It Is

I noticed a sign in West Richland for "Yellowstone Trail Park" and a friend recently shared to Facebook a photo of the old bridge across the Columbia River (before the Blue Bridge) named "Yellowstone Trail Bridge." So what is it? I found out:

The Yellowstone Trail was the first intercontinental roadway. It ran from Massachusetts to Seattle through the most northern states. It started in 1912 and was more of a trail than a highway.

Remember that President Eisenhower built our modern interstate highway system after returning from Germany and seeing the military value of Germany's Autobahn.

Prior to that the federal government didn't build roads -- unless they had military value (and remember even Eisenhower had to pitch it as a military asset).

So private businesses and automobile clubs oversaw the creation of the Yellowstone Trail, which was more about stringing together existing wagon roads with proper signs, maps, fuel stations and other services.

The rising popularity and reputation of Yellowstone Park was the major draw to Easterners.

In Montana, Idaho and Washington the route followed an old wagon trail surveyed by a military engineer in the 1850s. Back then Walla Walla was the hub of the Northwest so the wagon route went south through eastern Washington and eventually the Yellowstone Trail went through Tri-Cities!

The Trail made it easier to market the farms for sale in eastern Washington, attracting investment from all over the country in the early 1900s. The investors that came turned eastern Washington into one of the most productive and lucrative agricultural regions in the nation!