Sun Road cost sure have increased over the years

Earlier this month some $50 million was approved for the reconstruction of parts of the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park. Interesting figure. By comparison, the original total cost of construction, which was spread out over many years, was estimated at $3 million.

The initial concept for the route goes back to another smoke-filled summer — 1910 — when Major William R. Logan arrived in the park as its first superintendent of trails and roads.

He told his co-workers of his dream to bring a road from one of the mountain passes to the east, thus opening the interior of the park with its many wonders to the average traveler.

It wasn't an easy sell, though. Engineers termed it "challenging." Laborers said it was "dangerous." The average layman, before it was built, proclaimed the project "impossible." Perhaps, the difficulty of the proposed project was best termed by the Blackfeet Indians who referred to the route's path as covering the "backbone of the world."

The road literally would have to be carved into mountainsides in several places. Hazards included steep terrain, rock falls, adverse weather, short building seasons, huge snowdrifts and wild animals.

But Logan was persistent. During the winter of 1910-1911, he convinced Congress to appropriate over $60,000 for road building. He returned to the park as its first superintendent in 1911 and by early September 1911, the first two-and-a-half mile leg of what would eventually become the GTS Road was constructed.

On Sept. 10, 1911, the first auto caravan carried more than 200 persons into the park from Belton (West Glacier) to the foot of Lake McDonald. And by Sept. 30 that first segment sported a new macadam surface. Some 4,000 persons signed the guest register in Apgar that year.

At Yellowstone National Park, also in September 1911, Logan told fellow superintendents at a conference that he wanted to develop Glacier "as rapidly as possible … keeping in mind the future day … when the American traveling public will at least realize the beauties of their own country."

He was not to see his dream come true, though. Major Logan died in February, 1912. But his dream and legacy live on. Two prominent landmarks are named for him — Logan Creek and Logan Pass, the 6,664 ft. summit of the GTS road.

Multi-year efforts were needed before the road was completed. In 1916 Bureau of Public Roads Engineer T. Warren Allen made an initial reconnaissance of possible routes over the mountain and reported the concept as feasible.

Preliminary survey work was done in 1917 and 1918 as far as Logan (Trapper) Creek. In 1921 Congress appropriated $100,000 for the section from the foot of the pass to the head of Lake McDonald and the first construction contract was awarded Aug. 16, 1921.

Actually, some road building had been done before this by hotel man John Lewis, who spent $3,000 of his own money to acquire three miles of right-of-way, grade two miles of road and build three bridges along Lake McDonald from the Lewis Hotel. He had also done some initial road work to the hotel in the mid-1890s. He tried to do more work in 1920 but made slow progress due to inadequate equipment.

The first contracted section was cleared and graded by the summer of 1922, and another seven miles was contracted in July 1922, to take the road as far as Avalanche Creek.

In 1923 and 1924 construction activity shifted to the east side of the mountains where the road forged westward from St. Mary to near Sun Point. Another stretch — from Avalanche to Logan Creek — was put under contract but the contractor was unable to met the requirements and the job was taken over by the National Park Service.

The eight percent grade leading to and across the Garden Wall and on to the summit appeared too great and in 1924 BPR engineer Frank A. Kittridge was named to re-survey that portion. He and his crew finished the job by mid-November, reducing the grade to 5.5 percent. His recommendations were approved and the bids were let in the spring for the final 12 miles. The BPR took over engineering supervision as well.

The Garden Wall and west and east side tunnels proved to be the toughest part of the construction project. The Piegan tunnel on the east side of Logan Pass wasn't completed until the fall of 1932.

The Flathead Courier of Polson on July 20, 1933, reported, "Moving along the trail laboriously hacked out of solid rock, workmen dangled on ropes 1,000 feet above the valley floor, carving footholds, in sheer walls to blast a 400-ft. tunnel through Mt. Piegan. Equipment and supplies were packed by horse … along a narrow trail and then transferred to backs of men who carried them along a thready footpath and down a dangling 100 ft. ladder to drillers."

Many workmen, subjected to dangers of falling rock, wore their own versions of today's hard hats — surplus WWI battle helmets.

Among sub-contractors were 16 Russian nationals. During the final phases of construction, they worked from top of Logan Pass westward to meet crews of the general contractors, Williams and Douglas, working their way up the mountain. The Russians had their pack string of 20-25 horses, their own camp and cook tent. Their food was of better quality than the average road camp fare. One camp visitor said the Russians' raisin pie was the "best I'd ever eaten."

Bulk of the Russians' work was hand-done. With wheelbarrows, pick axes and shovels, they averaged about 100 feet per day. They did much of the high country blasting. Three drillers worked almost continuously preparing holes for black powder charges. Explosions reverberated like thunder throughout the park late at night all summer long.

Remarkably, only one fatality was recorded — a foreman lost his handhold on a rope and fell 60 feet to his death.

The last stretch of road was completed Sept. 3, 1932, except for the Piegan tunnel which holed through Oct. 19. The first motor travel across the route was chalked up, sort of, by Park Supt. Horace Albright on Sept. 3. He headed a party that started from Lake McDonald Hotel and drove as far as the summit. From there they walked around the tunnel project, got into another car and drove down the east side to St. Mary and then south to the Glacier Park Hotel.

The road was opened to the public on July 11, 1933. On July 15 an elaborate dedication ceremony attracted some 5,000 persons. Among dignitaries attending were Senator Burton K. Wheeler, representing President Franklin D. Roosevelt; former Congressman Scott Leavitt; Montana Governor Frank Cooney; and Lake McDonald's namesake, the old frontiersman Duncan McDonald;

Indians from the Blackfeet and Salish and Kootenai Tribes presented a special historical pageant. The peace pipe was passed and gifts were exchanged by tribal members to officially signify the end of generations of enmity. Among chiefs present were Two-Guns White Calf, whose profile appears on the old buffalo nickels, and the Kootenai leader, Koostatah.

Sadly, tragedy befell a group of Indians en route from the Flathead Reservation. A government truck carrying 20 tribal members ran off the highway near Columbia falls, killing two and injuring three others.

Major Logan's dream finally came true and many motorists today find Going to the Sun Road trip the highlight of their Glacier National Park visit.