I've been able to, so far, map out about 18mi of the route starting from Price, UT & working Northwards towards Salt Lake City, UT.
I can't figure out where the road went beyond that. Here is both the Northbound & Southbound route directions that were given in Volume 7 of the "1919 Official Automobile Blue Book".
(https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1HlEQZ_Kd_j0PUgYDM1EIQyAkYerKwfQR)
(https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=11WO9gX3xiuDr8TwFkdGGMtaciCGxIt4L)
For the most part, that road would have followed the railroad tracks - most of which remain on the same alignment. However (and this is important), there was a huge flood and landslide in Spanish Fork Canyon back in 1983 that destroyed the little town of Thistle and resulted in the realignment of US 6 and (I'm pretty sure) the rail line as well. The highway used to follow the river but that pathway is now buried under hundreds of feet of soil. So, it's not possible to drive the exact routing of the old road through that area because it's gone.
https://www.utahhumanities.org/stories/items/show/94 (https://www.utahhumanities.org/stories/items/show/94)
Out of curiosity are you documenting these somewhere other than AAroads?
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 06, 2021, 12:17:09 PM
Out of curiosity are you documenting these somewhere other than AAroads?
Mostly on Google Maps.
SM-S102DL
Quote from: StogieGuy7 on April 06, 2021, 12:16:36 PM
For the most part, that road would have followed the railroad tracks - most of which remain on the same alignment. However (and this is important), there was a huge flood and landslide in Spanish Fork Canyon back in 1983 that destroyed the little town of Thistle and resulted in the realignment of US 6 and (I'm pretty sure) the rail line as well. The highway used to follow the river but that pathway is now buried under hundreds of feet of soil. So, it's not possible to drive the exact routing of the old road through that area because it's gone.
https://www.utahhumanities.org/stories/items/show/94 (https://www.utahhumanities.org/stories/items/show/94)
I'm trying to figure out where the road used to go & compare it to where the current route goes now. I may be able to use Historic Aerials to find where the road went through the Thistle, UT area.
SM-S102DL
Quote from: Route66Fan on April 06, 2021, 09:01:18 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 06, 2021, 12:17:09 PM
Out of curiosity are you documenting these somewhere other than AAroads?
Mostly on Google Maps.
SM-S102DL
You might want to consider doing something like Blogger and get it documented where it might have some staying power long term for people who want to look up these old alignments. I do that on the Gribblenation page with a lot of older highways and have gotten pretty far with some Auto Trails like the Arrowhead Trail. The Lincoln Highway Association even has their own website which maps out known alignments, very handy for people in the road community who into old highways. To my knowledge you are probably the only person doing a serious look at the overall PPOO Highway.
I didn't realize University Avenue in Provo used to be Academy Avenue. It makes sense - BYU used to be Brigham Young Academy - but it looks like that name change occurred all the way back in 1903. Obviously the road took a while to catch up. This also helps identify what was most likely the original route of US 91 through Provo - 3rd South, University/Academy Ave, Center St, and 5th West.
As for Thistle: essentially, original 6 followed what is now US 89 from the current 6/89 junction west to the point where 89 now crosses Soldier Creek and bends to the south. That was the site of Thistle and where the old 6/89 split was. The 1983 landslide came down a little bit north of there - damming the Spanish Fork River, blocking the roads and railroad, and flooding the town of Thistle. A new huge roadcut was blasted through the mountain about a mile north of the landslide, and that is where US 6/89 run now. The rail line was rerouted slightly to the north as well, but through a pair of brand new tunnels. The river is a pretty good approximation of where the road and railroad used to run, although even that isn't perfect as that has also been directed through a new tunnel.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 06, 2021, 09:14:57 PM
Quote from: Route66Fan on April 06, 2021, 09:01:18 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 06, 2021, 12:17:09 PM
Out of curiosity are you documenting these somewhere other than AAroads?
Mostly on Google Maps.
SM-S102DL
You might want to consider doing something like Blogger and get it documented where it might have some staying power long term for people who want to look up these old alignments. I do that on the Gribblenation page with a lot of older highways and have gotten pretty far with some Auto Trails like the Arrowhead Trail. The Lincoln Highway Association even has their own website which maps out known alignments, very handy for people in the road community who into old highways. To my knowledge you are probably the only person doing a serious look at the overall PPOO Highway.
I'm thinking about launching an old roads & autotrails blog called "Autotrails to Yesterday" & am wondering if I could possibly monetize it? I know that I probably could.
Kind of wondering, have you got any of the sections east of Illinois mapped out already? I didn't see any threads from you for states east of Illinois. You actually got me interested in this auto trail when you started the series of these threads, and I have been looking at the Ohio section a bit. In the Midwest, it generally parallels US 36, but that's not specific enough from what I see from your maps.
Quote from: Route66Fan on April 07, 2021, 06:10:42 AM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 06, 2021, 09:14:57 PM
Quote from: Route66Fan on April 06, 2021, 09:01:18 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 06, 2021, 12:17:09 PM
Out of curiosity are you documenting these somewhere other than AAroads?
Mostly on Google Maps.
SM-S102DL
You might want to consider doing something like Blogger and get it documented where it might have some staying power long term for people who want to look up these old alignments. I do that on the Gribblenation page with a lot of older highways and have gotten pretty far with some Auto Trails like the Arrowhead Trail. The Lincoln Highway Association even has their own website which maps out known alignments, very handy for people in the road community who into old highways. To my knowledge you are probably the only person doing a serious look at the overall PPOO Highway.
I'm thinking about launching an old roads & autotrails blog called "Autotrails to Yesterday" & am wondering if I could possibly monetize it? I know that I probably could.
I know Adam for a time turned on the feature on blogger before I was with Gribblenation. I'm not sure how successful it was but it can be done.
I currently don't have anything mapped out East of Illinois. I've decided to work my way West from Missouri to California, for now & then work on mapping out the states East of Illinois later.
SM-S102DL