THIS WAS NEVADA: Phillip I. Earl

      With the reorganization of the Lincoln Highway Association in 1992 and the founding of the Nevada Sierra Chapter of the organization two years ago, the spotlight of history again falls upon America's first transcontinental roadway after a hiatus of some 70 years.
      At the fourth annual Conference of the Lincoln Highway Association in Reno last summer, we heard papers on several aspects of current research and took two bus trips to visit Lincoln Highway remnants in western Nevada and in the Sierra Nevada.
      Almost forgotten today is the stretch of Lincoln Highway between McGill and Wendover on the Nevada-Utah line, 52 miles of paved road traversing a stretch of the most scenic high-desert country in the state. Opened with a four-day celebration in Ely in June 1930, the route today is Highway 93 to Lages Station and Alternate 93 north to Wendover.
      As originally laid out by Henry B. Joy and other officials of the original Lincoln Highway Association in 1913, the route from Salt Lake City to Ely came south of the Great Salt Lake and west by way of Tooele, Granite Mountain, Gold Hill, Ibapah and Schellbourne. "Fair road in summer, if you don't break down or run into rainstorm," the author of a 1929 touring guide wrote, "If either happens, tourist is out of luck."
      At the time Lincoln Highway officials were through this section of the country, other road advocates were pushing for a direct route west to Wendover via the Great Salt Lake Desert, the "Salt Flats," as this section is known today, but engineering problems and disputes between Utah, California and Nevada interests held up completion until June 1925. Ely and the communities on west -- Eureka, Austin, Fallon, Dayton and Carson City -- were thereafter cut off the main route to San Francisco which went through Wells, Elko, Carlin, Battle Mountain, Winnemucca, Lovelock and Reno via the Overland Trail -- the Victory Highway, as it was known, later U.S. 40 and Interstate 80.
      Northern California interests opposed an extension south to Ely because such a route would have given passing motorists an opportunity to cut off south to Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Survey work began in October 1927, however, and construction started two months later, being completed by Dodge Brothers Construction Co. April 17, 1930.
      By that time, state officials and Ely boosters were planning "Lincoln Highway Days," a celebration of the completion of the last link, June 4-7. To be featured was a pageant, "The Evolution of Transportation," parades, band concerts, a boxing match, a four-day performance by the Fanchon-Marco Circus Company and the appearance of a group of military aviators from California. Also to be featured on June 6 was the demolition of an abandoned roaster stack at McGill which was to be filmed by a crew from Fox Movietone Cinema Corp.
      Aultman Street in Ely was a blaze of banners, flags and bunting from one end to the other and a tent city was set up in the courthouse park by the circus people. Just at 10:30 a.m. the first day, George P. Annand stepped to the podium of the stage set up on the street and introduced Mayor Alfred Tamblyn, who welcomed visitors to his town and turned the program over to Gov. Fred B. Balzar. The governor spoke briefly on the efforts of the state highway department to complete the Ely-Wendover link. Balzar then stepped forward to break the figurative link in a chain and declare the highway open.
      The pageant then commenced, beginning with Indians on horseback and following with Spanish explorers, fur trappers, the Fremont expeditions, prospectors and the Pony Express. An overland stage, Mormon pioneers with handcarts, the first automobile brought into eastern Nevada -- a three-cylinder Model O Chase owned by James Beach -- and modern autos and buses followed. The passing of a Nevada Northern train just down the block and a flyover of planes from nearby Yelland Field completed this part of the program.
      The second day, June 5, began with a railroad trip to the pit operated by the Nevada Consolidated Copper Co., a film crew accompanying the 100 or so sightseers. The day was otherwise taken up with circus performances, a second day of rodeo at the Gable Ranch, a fireworks display, and dances at the American Legion Hall, the Elks Home and The Blue Palace.
      Friday, June 6, was designated as "Utah Day," and Gov. George M. Dern and 100 Salt Lake City and Ogden businessmen were on hand for the celebration. Dern's train was met by Balzar in a stagecoach. Surrounded by whooping cowboys, they traveled up Aultman Street to the receiving stand where the Utah chief executive congratulated the citizens of Ely for their work in seeing to the completion of the highway. The old roaster stack at McGill was destroyed just after 10 a.m.; several thousand spectators crowded a hill northeast of town where they could get the best vantage point. The transportation pageant was staged a second time and Fred Miller performed a parachute jump. That evening, Buddy Francis, a local boy, scored a knockout in the sixth round over Salt Lake City's Sammy George in the main event of a boxing match at the courthouse park.
      The last day, "Nevada Day," June 7, featured street concerts, a Mardi Gras Costume Carnival and a street dance. Maude Tweedale of Ruth was crowned Lincoln Highway Days Queen.
      The four-day celebration cost local businessmen some $25,000, but they were pleased with the festivities and considered the expenditure to be an "investment in the future," as one of them put it -- and so it was.
     
      Phillip I. Earl is curator of history for the Nevada Historical Society.