[JONAT] Re: JONAT digest, 100 Year old tidbit

[John McEwen]

Christina, that would let out your Lincoln Highway connection. 
However, we can certainly talk about and show people some historic 
routes here in Alberta.

In Alberta, there weren't many roads at all or road events in 1906. 
The province is celebrating its Centennial this year. A century ago, 
there were probably fewer than 20 cars in the whole province and no 
highways as we know them.  The first paved road wasn't built until 
sometime after 1920 and it only ran for 15 miles from Edmonton to 
Fort Saskatchewan.  It was a huge land of wagon trails, stage roads 
river boats and railroads.  The situation was about the same in all 
of western Canada.  BC was mostly impassable by car because of the 
mountains and long lakes.  Transport was by steam boat or railroad, 
with a very few difficult roads and some ferries.   Car travel in the 
west was seasonal at best with trails ranging from dangerous to 
impassable in winter and just plain impassable in spring.  The horse 
and buggy and later the Model T Ford were still kings.

When I was a boy in the late '40s and '50s, we still had very few 
paved roads.  It was not possible to travel across Canada or Alberta 
without some extensive detours or very difficult roads.  Our 
Trans-Canada Highway was not finished until the early 1960s and it 
was still a two lane road at best in most places.  It wasn't possible 
to drive from Edmonton west through the mountains via Jasper to 
Kamloops (one of my suggested routes) until the late '60s.

I took that road in 1961.  It was a two lane paved road to Jasper 
then became a narrow gravel road running on the abandoned railroad 
grade of the Grand Trunk Pacific - complete with depressions from the 
removed ties.  It deteriorated from that to a bush trail barely the 
width of a car.  Some of the bridges were ex-railroad with planks 
over the ties, or were army Bailey bridges or in some cases just 
fords.  The drive from Jasper to Kamloops took 13 hours in my '47 
Chev and I was exhausted when I finally completed the 250 miles after 
sawing on the wheel for endless miles of curves with bush slapping 
the fenders.  There was almost no fuel available on the road and I 
carried extra with me.

Travel by the old E-W route from Calgary to Vancouver took at least 
two to three days to complete the drive and involved following the 
Columbia River around the "Big Bend" which added nearly 300 miles of 
poor gravel to the distance.  The road was almost completely unpaved 
and often dangerous.   Landslides and avalanches were common - often 
resulting in days of waiting while crews worked to clear the road to 
traffic.  Winter travel was pretty well non-existent. This situation 
persisted into the '60s and in places the road is still narrow and 
difficult.  Crossing at least three mountain ranges while trying to 
travel E - W when the mountains and valleys run N-S is never fun.  It 
was commonplace for Canadians to travel through Montana, Idaho and 
Washington instead.

We may not be able to re-enact events of 2006, but we could certainly 
talk about and drive on roads which have made mountain travel 
possible during the past 40 years.

John


>" Start your engines?                      |
>|                                           |
>|                                           |
>|  In 1905, 100 years ago, the First        |
>|  Transcontinental Auto Race across        |
>|  America began in New York City and       |
>|  ended in Portland, Oregon at the Lewis   |
>|  and Clark Exposition.  The winning       |
>|  driver                                   |
>|  stated that the hardest segment of the   |
>|  race                                     |
>|  was over 7-mile hill on the Santiam      |
>|  Wagon Road."           
>
>This was an interesting reported piece of information....and it prompted me
>to think about where segments of the 06 JONAT could contribute to some
>nostalgia -- which always goes over well locally.  If there were historically
>important touring/racing car events that occurred in 1906 -- there 
>might be a way to
>tie in for a "re-enactment" of an event.  Maybe an important stretch of road
>was built in 1906?  Do we have any history buffs in the crowd that 
>might know of
>any locations?
>
>I like the feedback I'm hearing from my previous comments.  I particularly
>like your idea, Bob, of going through last years notes (fresh from the
>experiences) and analyzing what stands out and organizing the 
>information a little.  I
>think brainstorming is fine -- but unless the thoughts get semi-organized, the
>vision can be lost.  The vision needs to be crystal clear so we're all headed
>the same direction (no pun intended).
>
>Christina Lilienthal
>2004 ASC Oregon
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