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Mount Rainier Roads and Bridges
Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
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MOUNT RAINIER ROADS AND BRIDGES TIMELINE OF DEVELOPMENTS | |
| 75,000 or so Years Ago |  |
Mount Rainier reaches maximum height |
| 1792 | Captain George Vancouver of the British Royal Navy "discovers" mountain and names it for friend, Admiral Peter Rainier | |
| 1860s | Citizens of Pierce County survey road and railway routes over Cowlitz Pass near park's present southeast corner; never built | |
| 1870 |  |
Hazard Stevens and P.B. Van Trump make first documented ascent of Mount Rainier |
| 1890 | Longmire family and Native American helpers construct first road into area | |
| 1899 |  |
Mount Rainier National Park established by act of Congress |
| 1903 |  |
First funds appropriated for park road; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers placed in charge |
| 1903-04 | Eugene Ricksecker directs road survey from Nisqually Entrance to Paradise Valley; construction begins | |
| 1904 | Tacoma Eastern Railway reaches Ashford near west boundary; visitation up significantly; stages begin daily service to Longmire in 1906 | |
| 1911 |  |
President Taft's car, one of first to reach Paradise Valley; partly pulled by mules |
| 1914 | Women allowed to drive on park roads | |
| 1915 |  |
"Road to Paradise" completed; first road in America to reach a glacier |
| 1916 |  |
National Park Service established |
| 1921 |  |
Carbon River Road constructed |
| 1925 | National Park Service and Bureau of Public Roads sign agreement; BPR assumes construction of all national park roads. Three-year park road program begins with reconstruction of Nisqually Road; surveys for West Side, East Side and White River roads | |
| 1931 |  |
White River Road completed; opening of Sunrise development in Yakima Park |
| 1932 | Mather Memorial Parkway; first access to park from eastern Washington | |
| 1933 |  |
Mowich Lake Road built, but does not open until 1955 |
| 1933-42 | Civilian Conservation Corps, Emergency Conservation Works programs improve park infrastructure | |
| 1934 | West Side Road completed as far as North Puyallup River; never extended | |
| 1940 |  |
East Side Highway completed |
| 1957 |  |
Stevens Canyon Highway links east and west sides of park; last major road development |
| 1992 | Mount Rainier roads and bridges documented by NPS Historic American Engineering Record | |
| 1999 | Mount Rainier National Park Centennial | |
| Introduction | Acadia | Blue Ridge Parkway | Chickamauga and Chattanooga | Colonial Parkway | Generals Highway | George Washington Memorial Parkway | Great Smoky Mountains | Mount Rainier | Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway | Shenandoah's Skyline Drive | Southwest Circle Tour | Vicksburg | Yellowstone | Yosemite |