This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed.(December 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
1922 map of auto trails
Old style highway markings
Lincoln Highway
Dixie Highway
The system of auto trails was an informal network of marked routes that existed in the United States and Canada in the early part of the 20th century. Marked with colored bands on utility poles, the trails were intended to help travellers in the early days of the automobile.
Auto trails were usually marked and sometimes maintained by organizations of private individuals. Some, such as the Lincoln Highway, maintained by the Lincoln Highway Association, were well-known and well-organized, while others were the work of fly-by-night promoters, to the point that anyone with enough paint and the will to do so could set up a trail. Trails were not usually linked to road improvements, although counties and states often prioritized road improvements because they were on trails.
In the mid-to-late 1920s, the auto trails were essentially replaced with the United States Numbered Highway System. The Canadian provinces had also begun implementing similar numbering schemes.
1922 map of autotrails Old style highway markings The system of autotrails was an informal network of marked routes that existed in the United States...
mainline U.S. Highway. Before the U.S. Routes were designated, autotrails designated by autotrail associations were the main means of marking roads through...
settlers began moving into the Beaverhead and Big Hole valleys from the Oregon Trail and into the Clark's Fork valley. The first gold discovered in Montana was...
backpacking trail in Arkansas Ozark Trail (autotrail), an early network of locally maintained roads and highways Ozark Trail (brand name), a private-label...
of states in the United States, established on May 23, 1912. It was an AutoTrail that ran from the Atlantic Ocean in Plymouth, Massachusetts, through Montana...
National Old Trails Road, also known as the Ocean-to-Ocean Highway, was established in 1912, and became part of the National AutoTrail system in the United...
The Midland Trail, also called the Roosevelt Midland Trail, was a national autotrail spanning the United States from Washington, D.C., west to Los Angeles...
Secretary of War. Because of unintended conflict between the National AutoTrail movement and the federal government, it is unclear whether it ever really...
The Lee Highway was a national autotrail in the United States, connecting New York City[dubious – discuss] and San Francisco, California, via the South...
the early years of the 20th century, the term autotrail was used for a marked highway route, and trail is now used to designate routes, including highway...
named long-distance roads (known as National AutoTrails), such as the Yellowstone Trail, National Old Trails Road, Dixie Highway, Jefferson Highway, Bankhead...
Commons has media related to Madonna of the Trail. Pioneer Mother (Grafly) List of statues National AutoTrail U.S. Route 66 Scauzillo, Steve (June 2, 2020)...
types of trails: the national scenic trails, national historic trails, national recreation trails, and connecting or side trails. The national trails provide...
Wadena, Minnesota. It was built in the 1910s as part of the National AutoTrail system. Named for President Thomas Jefferson, inspired by the east–west...