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TRIPS INTO THE NATIONAL PARKS were leisurely in tempo, an adventure into the wilderness, until 1916. Sometimes they even were an adventure into the really Wild West—for there were several hold-ups by bandits who suddenly appeared, shooting, and relieved passengers and drivers of their valuables. Overnight accommodations had to be within a day's drive by horse-drawn stagecoaches. Proud owners of the first automobiles driven into Yosemite Valley, in Yosemite National Park, were directed to a central parking area where, for the sake of safety, the cars were chained to great logs.

But travel speeded up in 1916 by early motoring standards. That year all the national parks were opened to automobiles. The era of leisurely, 10-mile-an-hour travel was over.

The automobile, and particularly the heavy motorcoach, required better roads, both inside and outside the parks. Yet the roads in most of the older parks have remained approximately on the same location as the old wagon roads. Comparatively few entirely new roads have been built. Plans now drawn provide for major road improvement, but not many more miles of roads.

SEEING YELLOWSTONE IN 1884. The first six-horse stagecoach in the park, in front of the old Mammoth Hotel, since reconstructed. (Courtesy, Haynes Studios Inc.)

Last Modified: Sat, Oct 5 2002 10:00:00 pm PDT
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