Auto trail

The system of auto trails was an informal network of marked routes that existed in the United States and Canada in the early part of the 20th century. Marked with colored bands on utility poles, the trails were intended to help travellers in the early days of the automobile.

1922 map of auto trails

Old style highway markings

Lincoln Highway

Dixie Highway

Auto trails were usually marked and sometimes maintained by organizations of private individuals. Some, such as the Lincoln Highway, maintained by the Lincoln Highway Association, were well-known and well-organized, while others were the work of fly-by-night promoters, to the point that anyone with enough paint and the will to do so could set up a trail. Trails were not usually linked to road improvements, although counties and states often prioritized road improvements because they were on trails.

In the mid-to-late 1920s, the auto trails were essentially replaced with the United States Numbered Highway System. The Canadian provinces had also begun implementing similar numbering schemes.

List of auto trails

Name	North or east end	South or west end	U.S. Highways (approximate, based on 1926 plan and later additions)	Notes
Albert Pike Highway	Hot Springs, Arkansas	Colorado Springs, Colorado	US 270, US 64, US 183, US 154, US 50, US 85
Aroostook Trail	Old Town, Maine	Fairfield, Maine	Maine Route 100, US 2
Arrowhead Trail	Salt Lake City, Utah	Los Angeles, California	US 91
Atlantic Highway	Calais, Maine	Miami, Florida	US 1, US 25, US 17, US 1
Atlantic-Pacific Highway	New York, New York	Los Angeles, California	US 1, US 211, US 15, US 33, US 60, US 52, US 460, US 50, US 54, US 70, US 60
Atlantic Yellowstone Pacific Highway	Chicago, Illinois	Sioux Falls, South Dakota	US 20, US 218, US 18
Baltimore Pike	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Baltimore, Maryland
Bankhead Highway	Washington, D.C.	San Diego, California	US 1, US 15, US 70, US 170, US 29, US 78, US 70, US 67, US 80
Bee Line Highway	Chicago, Illinois	New Orleans, Louisiana	US 51
Ben Hur Highway	St. Louis, Missouri	Fort Dodge, Iowa
Black and Yellow Trail	Chicago, Illinois	Yellowstone National Park	US 41, US 16, US 14, US 16, US 20
Blackhawk Highway	Dixon, Illinois	Beloit, Wisconsin	IL 2, IL 251, US 51
Broadway Of America	San Diego, California	New York City, New York	US 80, Arizona 87, Arizona 84, US 80, US 67, US 70, US 41, US 70S, US 70, US 11W, US 11, US 211, US 1, US 40, US 13, US 1	Later addition auto trail, established in 1930. One alignment used Arizona 87 and Arizona 84 between Gila Bend and Tucson, another followed US 80 between both cities.^[1]^[2]
California-Banff Bee Line
Cannon Ball Route	Chicago, Illinois	Hannibal, Missouri
Capital Route	Omaha, Nebraska	Austin, Texas
Chicago, Kansas City and Gulf Highway	Chicago, Illinois	Galveston, Texas
Colorado to Gulf Highway	Denver, Colorado	Galveston, Texas and Brownsville, Texas	US 85, US 385, US 370, US 81, US 181
Columbia River Highway	Pendleton, Oregon	Portland, Oregon	US 30
Cooley Highway	Grand Rapids, Minnesota	Sisseton, South Dakota
Cornhusker Highway	Sioux City, Iowa	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Custer Battlefield Highway	Omaha, Nebraska	Glacier National Park	US 75, US 16, US 116, US 87E, US 87
Dallas-Canadian-Denver Highway	Boulder, Colorado	Galveston, Texas	US 85, US 50, US 83, US 70, US 77
Daniel Webster Highway	Chartierville, Quebec	Franconia, New Hampshire
Detroit-Lincoln-Denver Highway	Detroit, Michigan	Denver, Colorado	US 12, US 32, US 38
Dixie Highway	Chicago, Illinois and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan	Miami, Florida	Illinois 1, US 136, US 31, Indiana 37, US 150, US 31W
Dixie Bee Line	Chicago, Illinois	Nashville, Tennessee	US 41, US 241
Dixie Overland Highway	Savannah, Georgia	San Diego, California	US 80, US 84, US 380, US 366, US 80
Egyptian Trail	Chicago, Illinois	Cairo, Illinois
Electric Highway (Auto trail)	Forsyth, Montana	Helena, Montana	US 12, US 89
Evergreen National Highway	Victoria, British Columbia	El Paso, Texas	US 99, US 10, US 97, US 410, US 95, US 30, US 30N, US 91, US 95, US 66
Florida Short Route
French Lick Route	Cincinnati, Ohio	Evansville, Indiana	US 50, State Road 37, US 150, State Road 56, US 231, and State Road 62
George Washington Memorial Highway	Cambridge, Massachusetts	Agawam, Massachusetts
George Washington National Highway	Savannah, Georgia	Seattle, Washington
Geysers-to-Glaciers Highway	Glacier National Park	Yellowstone National Park	US 89 W from West Yellowstone to Shelby, Montana; US 2 from Shelby to Cut Bank, Montana; and MT 213 from Cut Bank to the Canada–US border^[3]
Glacier to Gulf Motorway	Calgary, Alberta	Tampico, Mexico
Glacier Trail	Seattle, Washington	Jacksonville, Florida
Grant Highway	Chicago, Illinois	Portland, Oregon	US 20
Great Plains Road	Portal, North Dakota	Brownsville, Texas
Great White Way	Davenport, Iowa	Council Bluffs, Iowa	US 6	Also known as the White Pole Road
International Peace Highway	Quebec, Quebec and Rouses Point, New York	Laredo, Texas and Mexico City, Mexico
Jackson Highway	Chicago, Illinois	New Orleans, Louisiana	US 152, US 52, US 31, US 168, US 68, US 31, US 43, US 45, US 11
Jefferson Highway	Winnipeg, Manitoba	New Orleans, Louisiana	US 59, US 2, US 71, US 10N, US 10, US 65, US 69, US 71/US 73E, US 73, US 75, US 69, US 67, US 271, US 80, US 171, US 71, US 61
Jefferson Davis National Highway	Washington, D.C.	San Diego, California	US 1, US 278, US 29, US 80, US 43, US 90, US 96, US 277, US 90
King of Trails	Winnipeg, Manitoba	Galveston, Texas and Brownsville, Texas	US 75/US 81, US 75/US 77, US 75, US 73, US 73E, US 50, US 73W, US 75, US 77, US 81, US 181, US 96
Lackawanna Trail	Binghamton, New York	Delaware, New Jersey	US 11,^[4]^[unreliable source?] US 611^[5]^[unreliable source?]
Lakes to Gulf Highway	Duluth, Minnesota	Galveston, Texas
Lakes-to-Sea Highway	Atlantic City, New Jersey	Erie, Pennsylvania	US 30, US 120, US 22, US 322, US 19
Lee Highway	New York, New York	San Francisco, California	US 1, US 211, US 11, US 72, US 70, US 366, US 80, US 180, US 80, US 101
Lewis and Clark Highway	Missoula, Montana	Lewiston, Idaho
Liberty Highway	New York, New York	Cleveland, Ohio	New Jersey 4, New Jersey 17, New York 17, New York 430, New York 394, US 20^[6]
Lincoln Highway	New York, New York	San Francisco, California	US 1, US 30, US 40, US 93, US 50, US 99, US 48
Logan-Lee Highway	Rock Island, Illinois	Paducah, Kentucky	US 67, Illinois 3
Lone Star Route	Chicago, Illinois	Lake Charles, Louisiana (earlier Brownsville, Texas)	US 66, US 67, US 63, US 165
Lone Star Trail	St. Augustine, Florida	Los Angeles, California	US 1, US 90, US 84, US 67, US 290, US 80, Arizona 86, US 80, , Arizona 84, Maricopa–Casa Grande Highway (Arizona), Gila Bend–Maricopa Highway (Arizona), US 80
Magnolia Route
Meridian Highway	Winnipeg, Manitoba	Mexico City, Mexico	US 81
Mississippi River Scenic Highway	Winnipeg, Manitoba and Port Arthur, Ontario	Fort Myers, Florida and Port Arthur, Texas	US 75, US 2, US 71, US 10N, US 10, US 61, US 55, US 61, US 90; US 49E, US 49, US 98, US 90, US 19, US 41
Mississippi Valley Highway	Ely, Minnesota	Gulfport, Mississippi (earlier New Orleans, Louisiana)	US 53, US 61, US 55, US 161, US 67, US 51, US 45, US 11, US 49	Earlier known as the Burlington Way
National Old Trails Road	Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland	Los Angeles, California	US 240/US 40, US 40, US 50N, US 50, US 350, US 85, US 70, US 66
National Park-to-Park Highway	Loop connecting National Parks		US 99, US 48, US 40, US 99E, US 99, US 10, US 195, US 95, US 2, US 87, US 87W, US 20, US 185, US 85, US 50, US 285, US 450, US 550, US 64, US 666, US 66
National Parks Highway	Boston, Massachusetts and New York, New York	Seattle, Washington		Also known as the Northwest Trail
National Roosevelt Midland Trail	Washington, D.C. and Newport News, Virginia (earlier Oyster Bay, New York)	Los Angeles, California	US 60, US 150, US 50, US 40, US 40N, US 40, US 40S, US 50, US 6
New Santa Fe Trail	Kansas City, Mo.	Los Angeles	US 50, US 350, US 85, US 66
Old Oregon Trail	Independence, Missouri	Seaside, Oregon and Olympia, Washington	US 40, US 30, US 26, US 20, US 87E, US 30N, US 30
Old Spanish Trail	St. Augustine, Florida	San Diego, California	US 1, US 90, US 80
Ozark Trails	Kansas City, Missouri, Hannibal, Missouri, St. Louis, Missouri, and Memphis, Tennessee	Denver, Colorado, Las Vegas, New Mexico, and El Paso, Texas
Pacific Highway	Vancouver, British Columbia	San Diego, California	US 99, US 40, US 101
Pershing Way	Winnipeg, Manitoba	New Orleans, Louisiana
Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway	New York, New York	Los Angeles, California (earlier San Francisco, California)	US 22, US 250, US 36, US 136, US 36, US 40N, US 40S, US 50, US 91	Also known as the Pershing Transport Route
Puget Sound-to-Gulf Highway
Red Ball Route
River-to-River Road	Davenport, Iowa	Council Bluffs, Iowa
Southern National Highway
Southwest Trail	Chicago, Illinois	El Paso, Texas	US 32, US 65, US 50S, US 81, US 160, US 281, US 60, US 366
Susquehanna Trail	Buffalo, New York	Washington, D.C.	US 20, US 15, US 111/US 240
Theodore Roosevelt International Highway	Portland, Maine	Portland, Oregon	US 302, US 2, US 11, US 104, US 23, US 2, US 95, US 195, US 295, US 410, US 30
Three C Highway	Cleveland, Ohio	Cincinnati, Ohio	Ohio SR 3
Transprovincial Highway	Ottawa	Toronto		Later Ontario Highway 2 and Ontario Highway 15
Victory Highway	New York, New York	San Francisco, California	US 1, US 40, US 40S, US 83, US 40N, US 40
White River Trail	Springfield, Missouri	Ponca City, Oklahoma
White-way 7 Highway	Chicago, Illinois	Omaha, Nebraska	US 32	In Iowa, created from segments of the River to River Road from Davenport to Redfield, and the Great White Way from Dexter to Council Bluffs.
William Penn Highway	New York, New York	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	US 22
Yellowstone Highway	Denver, Colorado	Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone Trail	Plymouth, Massachusetts	Seattle, Washington	US 20, US 30, US 41, US 110, US 10, US 212, US 12, US 10, US 195, US 295, US 410, US 97, US 10

See also

• List of historic auto trails in Iowa
• List of U.S. Routes
• U.S. Highway association

References

• American Automobile Association (1922). Highways Green Book (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: American Automobile Association. pp. 418–20.
• United States Touring Map (Map). Automobile Club of America and National Highways Association. 1924.
• Midget Map of the Transcontinental Trails of the United States (Map). Clason Map Company. 1923.
• Touring Atlas of the United States (Map). Clason Map Company. 1925.^{[permanent dead link]}
• Auto Road Atlas (Map). Rand McNally. 1926.

1. Jensen, Jeff (2013). Drive the Broadway of America!. Tucson: Bygone Byways. ISBN 9780978625900.
2. Broadway Of America (Map). 1:5,300,000. Washington, D.C.: American Automobile Association. 1932. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
3. Rules and Regulations ... U.S. Government Printing Office. 1920.
4. Kitsko, Jeffrey. "US 11". Pennsylvania Highways. Self-published. Retrieved January 16, 2013.
5. Kitsko, Jeffrey. "US 611 (Decommissioned)". Pennsylvania Highways. Self-published. Retrieved January 16, 2013.
6. Johnston, R. J. (April 4, 1918). "The Liberty Highway: Touring and Driveaway Route Between Cleveland and New York". Motor Age. 33 (14): 72–75. Retrieved January 16, 2013.

External links

• Richard F. Weingroff, From Names to Numbers: The Origins of the U.S. Numbered Highway System