Taming Big Sky Country
The History of Montana Transportation from Trails to Interstates
- 160 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About This Book
Drives this breathtaking did not come easy. Cruising down Montana's scenic highways, it's easy to forget that traveling from here to there once was a genuine adventure. The state's major routes evolved from ancient Native American trails into four-lane expressways in a little over a century. That story is one of difficult, groundbreaking and sometimes poor engineering decisions, as well as a desire to make a journey faster, safer and more comfortable. It all started in 1860, when John Mullan hacked a wagon road over the formidable Rocky Mountains to Fort Benton. It continued until the last section of interstate highway opened to traffic in 1988. Montana Department of Transportation historian Jon Axline charts a road trip through the colorful and inspiring history of trails, roads and superhighways in Big Sky Country.
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Table of contents
- Front Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction. Roads to Romance: Getting Around in Big Sky Country
- Part I. Enterprises of Incalculable Importance: Montana’s Early Roads
- Part II. Getting Montana Out of the Mud
- Part III. The Montana Highway Department Takes the Reins
- Part IV. Transforming Montana’s Highways During the Dirty Thirties
- Part V. A Time of Unprecedented Construction: The Postwar Years
- Part VI. Your Highway Dollars at Work: The Interstate Highways
- Notes
- Bibliography
- About the Author