Imagine the obstacles faced by the engineers and laborers who constructed the winding Going-to-the-Sun Road more than fifty years ago. Sheer cliffs, short construction seasons, sixty foot snow-drifts, and tons of solid rock make road building across the Continental Divide a unique challenge. When Glacier National Park celebrated the completion of the Going-to-the-Sun Road on July 15, 1933, more than two decades of planning and construction had become a spectacular reality.

Setting the keystone at Baring Creek Bridge. National Park service photograph taken by the Bureau of Public Roads photographer, 1932

BEFORE THE ROAD

Only a few miles of rough wagon roads existed within Glacier National Park when Congress established the park on May 11, 1910. Many people, including the first Park Superintendent, William R. Logan, wanted to build a transmountain road across the park. Supporters argued that a good road system would enable people to reach the interior of the park even if they could not afford the rates of the Great Northern Railroad and its chalets. In addition, the national enthusiasm for good roads and automobiling infected National Park Service officials as much as the rest of the country. However, some raised objections to the road.

A few local businessmen thought it would be inefficient and foolish to construct a road through the park's southern boundary next to the Great Northern Railroad tracks. Eventually, the businessmen were convinced to support the transmountain road because of the additional tourist dollars the road would bring to their local communities. By 1921, when Congress provided the first appropriation specifically for Glacier National Park's transmountain road, the supporters of the road had clearly won the argument.

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