Pioneers of Outlaw Country: Wyoming History

The Good Roads Club

Jackie Dorothy Season 3 Episode 8

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The Good Roads Clubs in Wyoming were like the cheerleaders of the early highway system—rallying townsfolk, wrangling funds, and literally paving the way to Yellowstone National Park, turning bumpy wagon trails into smooth rides for motorists in their new fancy cars. 

As autos became all the rage even in rural Wyoming, so did the increased need for good highways. 

Across the Cowboy State, Good Roads Clubs were formed and led the way to build better highways. 

In 1915, it was announced that the Yellowstone National Park would allow automobiles into the park and the Good Roads Club rallied, demanding that a smooth highway be built to the park. They were prepared to do whatever necessary to get their good roads!

A thank you to our sponsor, the Wyoming Department of Transportation, who was charged with building this road to Yellowstone as one of their very first projects!  Celebrating 100 years of the Yellowstone Highway through the Wind River Canyon and looking forward to many more to come along Wyoming’s scenic highway!

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This is a production of Legend Rock Media Productions.

The Good Roads Clubs in Wyoming were like the cheerleaders of the early highway system—rallying townsfolk, wrangling funds, and literally paving the way to Yellowstone, turning bumpy wagon trails into smooth rides for motorists in their new fancy cars. 

 

As autos became all the rage even in rural Wyoming, so did the increased need for good highways. Across the Cowboy State, Good Roads Clubs were formed and led the way to build better highways. In 1915, it was announced that the Yellowstone National Park would allow automobiles into the park and the Good Roads Club rallied, demanding that a smooth highway be built to the park. They were prepared to do whatever necessary to get their good roads!

 

The Pioneers of Outlaw Country. 

Cowboys, Lawmen and Outlaws… to the businessmen and women who all helped shape Wyoming. 

Here are their stories

 

“Good Roads Club: A Campaign to Build A Highway to Yellowstone”

Howdy, folks! Welcome to Pioneers of Outlaw Country: Wyoming History, the podcast where we dig into the bold stories, colorful characters, and untamed events that shaped the Cowboy State. I’m your host, Jackie Dorothy—historian, storyteller, and your trusty guide through Wyoming's past.

 

Today, we’re talking roads. Now, before you hit the skip button thinking this is just asphalt and surveyor stakes, let me tell you—this story is full of drama, determination, and a dash of frontier ingenuity. We're diving into the rise of the Good Roads movement in Wyoming, and how a ragtag collection of civic boosters, politicians, newspaper editors, and even prisoners transformed dirt paths into a highway worthy of carrying the hopes of the Big Horn Basin all the way to Yellowstone National Park.

Wyoming's early roads were...well, generous folks might call them trails. Others called them wagon-wreckers, axle-snappers, or simply impassable. In the early 1900s, much of Wyoming, and especially the Big Horn Basin, remained cut off from the growing national road system. This lack of access didn't just inconvenience travelers. It stifled economic opportunity, cut off vital trade routes, and isolated communities that were rich in resources but poor in connection.

 

Enter the Good Roads Movement.

 

Across the state, and particularly in places like Thermopolis, Cody, and Sheridan, people began to realize that modern transportation was no longer a luxury — it was essential. Local newspapers started editorial campaigns. Town councils held town-hall-style meetings, called "smokers" back then. And leaders like Governor John B. Kendrick came to town, sleeves rolled up, ready to push for real change.

 

One such meeting happened in March 1916 at the Emery Hotel in Thermopolis. It brought together an impressive list of heavy hitters: Governor Kendrick, the county commissioners, Gus Holms of the Yellowstone Highway Association, and even a federal road engineer named C.F. Robertson. They weren't just there to talk potholes. They were planning a full-scale transformation of how Wyoming connected to itself — and to the outside world.

 

Governor Kendrick made a stirring case. He explained that good roads weren’t just about cars or even convenience. They were about commerce, connection, and competition. If Wyoming wanted to draw in the thousands of tourists making their pilgrimage to Yellowstone, the towns in the Big Horn Basin needed to rise to the occasion. Otherwise, travelers would detour through Montana or Colorado.

 

Kendrick wanted to use convict labor to build those roads. That’s right. Rather than let able-bodied prisoners waste away in cells, he proposed they contribute to society by working on infrastructure. They had experience, needed oversight, and only required food and shelter. It was a practical solution to a monumental challenge.

 

Of course, not everyone was on board. Some citizens worried about safety. Others didn't want tax increases. But men like Arthur K. Lee, the Yellowstone Highway Commissioner for Hot Springs County, weren’t having it. They knew that a patchwork approach wouldn't cut it anymore. Wyoming needed durable, drivable, all-weather roads.

 

Speakers at the meeting laid it all out:

 

Gus Holms, with a booming voice and persuasive charm, reminded folks that a bad mile of road might cost a county thousands of visitors. 

 

"A bad stretch or an obstacle like a failed river crossing will send folks elsewhere."

 

Fred E. Holdrege talked facts and figures. He said that if this were Colorado, the highway would be blasted right through the scenic canyons, instead of tiptoeing around them. Kendrick agreed. One day, they hoped to punch a road straight through Wind River Canyon — a bold vision that would eventually become a reality.

 

Judge John M. Hench brought the fire. He warned that if the progressives sat at home on election day, and the opposition showed up, Wyoming would miss a golden opportunity.

 

And then there were the editors and farmers. The ones whose wagons had sunk in spring mud, who couldn’t get their harvests to market, who saw that good roads weren’t just about tourists—they were about the very survival of rural Wyoming.

 

So what happened?

 

In 1916, voters approved a constitutional amendment that allowed Wyoming to spend public money on roads. By 1917, travel predictions were already pointing toward a record-breaking tourism season. And in 1919, the movement crystallized into formal action: the Northern Wyoming Good Roads Association was born. This wasn’t a state agency. It was a grassroots coalition of counties: Big Horn, Hot Springs, Johnson, Park, Sheridan, and more. Their goal? Rally behind a proposed $2.8 million bond issue that would unlock matching funds from the federal government.

 

Each county pledged to hold meetings, educate voters, and launch campaigns to drum up support. The message was simple: Good roads wouldn't raise your taxes. The new automobile licensing fees would cover the bond. In other words: No new taxes. Just better roads.

 

And why did they care so much? Because of Yellowstone. The Park was the crown jewel of the West. If you wanted your town to survive—even thrive—you needed a connection to the highway that led to Yellowstone. That meant building up feeder roads, bridges, culverts, and all-season access points that would make places like Thermopolis, Meeteetse, and Lovell visible to the outside world.

 

“It is predicted and presumed that the 1917 tourist travel through the state will be a record breaker… and if we expect them to come through Hot Springs County, we must provide, at least, passable roads.”  — Thermopolis Record, January 1917

 

Commerce and tourism weren’t the only drivers. There were roads to the oil fields near Kirby, the mines near Gebo and Kirby Creek, and rural schools and ranches that had no hope of thriving without dependable transportation. Ranchers needed to haul hay, cattle, and grain. Merchants needed delivery access. Mail routes needed reliability. It wasn’t just about bringing people into the Big Horn Basin—it was about getting goods and people out of it, too.

 

In that sense, good roads were as transformative as the railroads had been a generation earlier.

 

By the early 1920s, the Good Roads movement had reshaped Wyoming. Prison crews, local road hands, and county crews had graded miles of trails into usable highways. Wooden bridges were replaced by steel. Gullies were filled, switchbacks straightened. And slowly, stubbornly, the Big Horn Basin began to open to the world.

 

Think of what that meant. Families could drive to see relatives. Tourists came from Chicago, Omaha, and even California, stopping in towns like Worland, Greybull, and Cody. Businesses grew. Hotels and diners popped up. Newspapers flourished with ads for new tires, roadside cabins, and auto mechanics. Wyoming was no longer a forgotten pocket of the Wild West—it was part of the map.

 

All of that, because some determined folks said: "Let’s build a road!"

 

So today, when you’re cruising through Wind River Canyon or rolling through the lush farms near Basin, spare a thought for those early road boosters. They saw a future where others saw only sagebrush. They didn’t wait for someone else to do the work. They picked up shovels, cast their votes, and built the road ahead.

  

That’s all for today’s ride on Pioneers of Outlaw Country: Wyoming History. I’m Jackie Dorothy. Join me next time as we chase down another trail, meet the characters who refused to be forgotten, and uncover the stories that make Wyoming the legendary place it is today.


 

The episode of Pioneers of Outlaw Country was brought to you by the Wyoming Department of Transportation as we celebrate 100 years of the Yellowstone Highway through the Wind River Canyon. 

 

Seat belt safety starts with you!

 

No matter what type of vehicle you drive, one of the safest choices drivers and passengers can make is to buckle up.

 

Seat belt safety starts with you.  Your kids are watching. Children whose parents or caregivers buckle up are much more likely to buckle up, too.

 

Wyoming has vast, wide open spaces, and long drives. Please buckle up, every trip, every ride, every time.

 

This was a production of Legend Rock Media. 

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