The Yellowstone Trail

During our annual visit to Waupaca, WI we attended a talk given at the local historical society about Waupaca's early filling stations and the city's connection to the Yellowstone Trail. The talk was given by John Gunnell, a local resident who had spent most of his working life writing articles for the automotive magazines published by the Krause Publishing Company in Iola, WI. He was particularly fond of the Oakland automobile and when he learned that one of the car dealers in Waupaca sold them during the 20s and 30s, he bought the original building. He then learned that building had been one of the designated stops on the Wisconsin portion of the Yellowstone Trail.

The Yellowstone Trail was the first transcontinental auto route through the northern tier of states. Begun in 1912, it ran from Plymouth Rock to Puget Sound with a spur running south from Livingston, Montana to Yellowstone Park. The Yellowstone Trail Association helped to support the idea that the country needed better roads.

The surveyors and planners evidently chose a good route, because many of today's interstates follow a similar path (for example, along Interstate 80 in the East and Interstate 90 in the West). You may have already traveled parts of this old transcontinental highway without realizing it.