Montana Historic Roadways

Before highways were given numbers, community leaders bestowed names upon roads.  Roads were named for the places they connected, for political or military leaders, and for local landmarks or historical figures.   A few trails achieved national fame, and helped adventurous people get from coast to coast.  Others served at a localized level, showing drivers the way from place to place.  Most were promoted for commercial purposes to attract travelers to businesses along the route.

Trails made use of colored signs and symbols painted or posted on telephone poles along the route.  Most of the designs were simple, but they made following rural cowpaths a little easier for travelers.  To complicate matters, several routes often followed the same roads.

The United States Congress approved a plan for numbering all major roads in the country in 1926, and the markers soon were replaced by thousands of black and white metal shields, thus closing a colorful chapter in North American transportation history.  The routes listed below include almost all of the named routes in Montana before 1926.  Only the more important or interesting ones have been plotted above, they are all documented below.

From Portland Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, N Dakota, Culbertson - Wolf Point - Glasgow - Havre - Shelby - Cut Bank - Columbia Falls - Kalispell - Libby Montana, Idaho, Washington, to Portland Oregon This roadway became US 2

A great circle including, Mount Rainier, Glacier, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain, Mesa Verde, Grand Canyon, Zion, Sequoia, Gen. Grant, Yosemite, Lassen, Crater Lake

	From Plymouth Rock Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, S Dakota,  Baker - Fallon - Miles CIty - Billings - Livingston - Bozeman - Butte - Deer Lodge - Missoula Montana, Idaho, to Puget Sound Washington This roadway became US 12, now it follows Interstate 94 and 90
	Entirely within Montana:  Connecting West Yellowstone, Ennis, Virginia City, Twin Bridges, Silver Star, Butte
	From Des Moines Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Wyola - Crow - Hardin -  Billings - Lewistown - Great Falls - to Glacier Montana
	From Chicago Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, N Dakota, Glendive - Billings - Livingston - Helena - Missoula Montana, Idaho, to Seattle Washington

	Entirely within Montana: Connecting Glendive, Lindsay, Circle, Jordan, Sand Springs, Mosby, Grass Range, Forest Grove, Lewistown, Armington This roadway is a major part of the eastern portion of Montana 200
	From Seattle WA, Glacier - Havre - Glasgow - Montana, N Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, to Jacksonville Florida
	Entirely within Montana: Connecting Forsyth, Roundup, Harlowton, White Sulphur Springs
	Entirely within Montana: Connecting Yellowstone Park, Three Forks, Helena, Choteau, Glacier Park

From Regina Saskatchewan, Whitetail - Flaxville - Poplar - Richey? - Circle - Brockway - Terry - Livingston Montana, to Yellowstone Park in Wyoming This is a true back-roads trail, a 1920's map might help trace it

	From Moose Jaw Saskatchewan, Scobey - Waska - Volt - Wolf Point - Circle - Brockway - Terry - Miles City - Broadus - Moorehead Montana, across Wyoming to Colorado Springs Colorado. This is a true back-roads trail, a 1920's map might help trace it
	Gallatin Way was an important road from Bozeman to West Yellowstone.  It apparently had no marker, but  the photo is a very early one of the road near Spanish Creek south of Bozeman and is typical of early roadways throughout the US
	Billings - Warren Montana, Powell - Cody Wyoming Could this road have gone Billings - Belfry Montana, Cody Wyoming?
	From Banff Canada, St Mary - Choteau - Great Falls - Helena - Butte - Twin Bridges - Dillon Montana, to Grand Canyon Arizona
	From Glacier - Choteau - Great Falls - Ryegate - Billings - Warren Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, on  to Amarillo Texas
	From Calgary Canada - Glacier - Great Falls - Ryegate - Billings - Lovell - Denver - Armarillo -  Brownsville Texas, branch to Galvaston.      Thanks to Rob Easterling, Santa Fe, New Mexico for the photo from a Billings Montana building.

Several additional roadways in Montana were named, some even after 1926, but didn't evolve as major
traveled highways and no particular information is available regarding their paths or markers.  These include:
Black Trail, Old Forts Trail, Skalkaho Highway, Sunshine Trail, Beartooth Trail, Black and White Trail, and Clarks
Fork Highway.  There are surely others not mentioned.  If anyone has a trail marker design that is not included
above please send it to the Webmaster.