Description: Traversing the spectacular Beartooth Highway in Montana and Wyoming is an unforgettable experience. The unspoiled mountain scenery along the highway inspired famed news correspondent Charles Kuralt to label it America's most beautiful drive, yet the story behind this engineering marvel is largely unknown. It is an epic account of man versus nature to construct a road through unforgiving wilderness. Built during the height of the Great Depression and rising 10,947 feet above sea level, the Beartooth Highway sparked an economic boom in Red Lodge, Cooke City and Yellowstone National Park. Understandably, it continues to leave a profound impression on people privileged to drive it. Historian Jon Axline tells the exciting and colorful narrative behind the origins and construction of the Beartooth Highway.
Brief description: Author of Conveniences Sorely Needed: Montana's Historic Highway Bridges and Taming Big Sky Country: The History of Montana Transportation from Trails to Interstates and editor of Montana's Historical Highway Markers, Jon Axline has been the historian at the Montana Department of Transportation since 1990. Jon also conducts cultural resource surveys and contributes to Montana: The Magazine of Western History and Montana magazine.