12/16/2022
When you drive over the Going-to-the-Sun Road, it’s hard not to think about what an amazing feat its construction was. In the 1920s, landscape architects and engineers sought to design and construct a dramatic mountain road that would provide access to the park for a growing number of automobile tourists while also blending in with the park’s scenery as much as possible.
A new collection on the Montana Memory Project showcases the original survey and construction of the Going-to-the-Sun Road from 1924 to 1934: https://www.mtmemory.org/nodes/view/102484
The collection features reports, photos, and maps from the Glacier National Park Archives that provide insight into the challenging conditions faced by those who worked on this landmark project.
Most items in the collection currently focus on construction of the west side of the road. More records will be added in the future that cover construction of the east side. The collection also documents the road’s dedication ceremony at Logan Pass on July 15, 1933.
In honor of the road’s 1933 dedication, National Park Service Director Horace Albright said, "Although Glacier will always remain a trail park, the construction of this one highway to its inner wonders is meeting an obligation to the great mass of people who because of age, physical condition, or other reason would never have an opportunity to enjoy, close at hand, this marvelous mountain park."
Funding from the Glacier National Park Conservancy helped make this new collection possible. Image: A group of people stand in the mountains while working on a construction project.
