08/16/2026
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Hey! It’s History Friday!
In 1925, the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park, then commonly known as the “Transmountain Highway,” was under construction. Although the project had received its first federal funding in 1921, building a road across the park’s steep mountains, deep valleys, and rugged terrain remained an intimidating challenge. Engineer Frank A. Kittredge and his Bureau of Public Roads survey team worked from narrow cliff ledges, often using ropes for safety, to map the route across the Continental Divide. That same year, the National Park Service and the Bureau of Public Roads finalized plans and awarded contracts for some of the most difficult sections of the highway. The 1925 photograph shows the fractured rock left after controlled blasting, with the Garden Wall in the background and Haystack Butte visible to the right.
Construction crews carved the roadway into sheer mountainsides using hand labor, controlled explosive blasts, power shovels, and small narrow-gauge “dinky” trains. To preserve Glacier’s natural beauty, engineers avoided large-scale blasting and instead removed rock in carefully planned stages. The excavated stone was often reused for retaining walls and other road structures, helping the highway blend into the landscape. By 1925, approximately 28.5 miles of the road had been completed, though the full route would not open until 1933. The work accomplished that year marked an important milestone in transforming the vision of a transmountain highway into one of America’s most celebrated scenic roads.
It’s been pretty smoky across Montana lately. Share your smokiest photo of Glacier National Park in the comments!
Source: [npshistory.com]
Photo: Montana History Portal, 2026 photo taken by library staff Liz Camarillo
For more Montana history, check out the 978.6 section of the library!
