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Arrowhead Trail

 

The chief promoter and "father" of the Arrowhead Trail was race car driver and road pathfinder Charles Henry Bigelow. Bigelow made his reputation as a desert rally racer in the famous California to Phoenix road races (see period articles on these races here). He also competed in the very first Indianapolis 500 race, and was likely the first driver to follow the route on the National Old Trails Road (in 1909) even before that highway was created. He was involved with the Ocean-to-Ocean Highway Association that eventually merged with the National Old Trails Road.

Bigelow became a pathfinder for the Automobile Club of Southern California, and in the years leading up to and including 1916 explored various paths between Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City. In May 1916, Bigelow and another famous desert road racer, Louis Nikrent, made a publicity run to promote an all-weather route from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City. They drove a Packard Twin Six called "Cactus Kate II", and brought along W.S. Wood, a Los Angeles advertising manager and L. K. Dewein, a cameraman with Hearst-Vitagraph News.

Bigelow had done much to promote the route from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, writing many newspaper articles and meeting with good roads and civic leaders in Nevada and Utah. In July 1916, several prominent citizens from southern California, Las Vegas, and Utah met in Redlands and formed the Arrowhead Trails Association. The men involved included Charles Bigelow, who was made field secretary; Fritz Fisher, president of the Redlands Chamber of Commerce and son of energy millionaire Henry Fisher; Mont B. Chubb, a Redlands druggist, civic leader, and member of the governing board of the Automobile Club of Southern California, who was elected association president; and E. W. Griffith, a founding resident and major good roads promoter in Las Vegas.

Starting on September 25, 1916, a motorcade of cars lead by Fritz Fisher travelled from Redlands to Salt Lake City. At their stop in Las Vegas they formed the chapter of the Arrowhead Trails Association there.

By 1922, the favored route of the Automobile Club of Southern California shifted to the so-called Silver Lake Route that travelled from Bartow to Las Vegas via Garlic Spring (near Fort Irwin), Bitter Spring, Silver Lake, Goodsprings (NV) and Jean (NV).

In 1924, Nevada engineers and the ACSC were scouting, and in the northern section building, a more direct road between Barstow and Jean through Baker. This became the main route by 1926, the year the route was designated US 91. The California section was fully paved by 1932.

 

Association

Name: Arrowhead Trails Association.

Organized: July 11, 1916.

Headquarters: Redlands, CA.

 

Arrowhead Trail cities and towns by State

The main route of the Arrowhead Trail during the auto trails era followed the National Old Trails Road from Los Angeles to the junction near Bannock. It then went via Searchlight to Las Vegas, St. Thomas, and on to Mesquite, NV. A proposed alternate from Daggett through Silver Lake was suggested on maps in 1924, but the main route still appears on 1925 maps. With the establishment of US 91, a more direct route via Yermo and Baker to Las Vegas was created and appears in 1930s ACSC map booklets.

• California

  Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Victorville, Barstow,
  Early route ca. 1916: Ludlow, Amboy, Fenner, Goffs, Bannock.
  Silver Lake alternate ca. 1924: Daggett, Coyote Well, Silver Lake, Francis Spring.

  Nevada

  Early route ca. 1916: Searchlight, Las Vegas, St. Thomas, Bunkerville, Mesquite.
  Silver Lake alternate ca. 1924: Sandy Mill, Good Springs, Jean, Sutor, Las Vegas, Griffith Summit, St. Thomas, Bunkerville, Mesquite.

  Arizona

  Littlefield.

  Utah

  St. George, Washington, Andersons Ranch, Cedar City, Parowan, Paragonah, Beaver, Cove Fort, Kanosh, Fillmore, Holden, Scipio, Levan, Nephi, Santaquin, Payson, Salem, Spanish Fork, Springville, Provo, American Fork, Lehi, Sandy, Murray, Salt Lake City.

 

Sources

• Church, Lisa Michele. Red Rocks and Race Cars: Charles Bigelow and the Arrowhead Highway. St. George, Utah: Washington County Utah Historical Society, Sept 27, 2018.
• Lyman, Edward Leo. "The Arrowhead Trails Highway: The beginning of Utah's other route to the Pacific Coast". Utah Historical Quarterly 67, no. 3 (Summer 1999), 242–264. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press.
• Rand McNally Official 1924 Auto Trails Map / California, Nevada [map]. Scale ca. 1:1,000,000. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1924.
• Rand McNally Auto Trails Map / District No. 15–16 (California, Nevada) [map]. Scale not given. In: Rand McNally Commercial Atlas of America. Fifty-fifth edition. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1924, pages 466–467.
  Note: many of the auto trail maps in this atlas appear to predate 1924.
• Rand McNally Official 1925 Auto Trails Map / Arizona, New Mexico [map]. Scale ca. 1:1,000,000. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1925.
• Rand McNally Junior Auto Trails Atlas of the United States. Scale not given. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1925.

 

Arrowhead Trail Contemporary Articles at AmericanRoads

• Plan Another Desert Race
  ― Reprinted from The Automobile, 27 July 1916, page 164.
• A Visit to Little Zion Canyon: Utah’s Scenic Wonder
  ― Reprinted from American Motorist, 1 August 1916, page 7.
• Arrowhead Trail Joins Lincoln Road
  ― Reprinted from Automobile Topics, 2 December 1916, page 378.
• Easy Grades on Arrowhead Trail
  ― Reprinted from Motor Age, January 1917, page 102.
• Arrowhead Trail From Los Angeles to Salt Lake
  ― Reprinted from Motor West, 15 September 1917, page 9.
• Arrowhead Lamp Posts Mark the Arrowhead Trail
  ― Reprinted from Popular Science, December 1917, page 908.

 

Arrowhead Trail Links

Arrowhead Trail. St. George, Utah: Washington County Utah Historical Society. Accessed August 15, 2021.

Church, Lisa Michele. Red Rocks and Race Cars: Charles H. Bigelow and tourism development along the Arrowhead Highway [Presentation]. Presented to the Utah State History Conference. September 28, 2018.

Kohler, Richard R. Arrowhead Trail in St. George. St. George, Utah: Washington County Utah Historical Society, Nov 17, 2018.

Hall-Patton, Mark. "The road much traveled". Nevada Public Radio. June 1, 2014.