{"id":13422,"date":"2018-09-20T06:57:49","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T13:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/?p=13422"},"modified":"2023-10-18T19:59:28","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T02:59:28","slug":"why-the-lincoln-did-not-pass-through-indianapolis-or-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2018\/09\/20\/why-the-lincoln-did-not-pass-through-indianapolis-or-colorado\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Lincoln did not pass through Indianapolis or Colorado\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 24pt;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"13411\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2018\/09\/17\/americas-first-coast-to-coast-highway-the-lincoln-highway\/lhsignthumb\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/LHSignThumb.jpg?fit=250%2C360&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"250,360\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"LHSignThumb\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/LHSignThumb.jpg?fit=250%2C360&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13411 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/LHSignThumb.jpg?resize=250%2C360\" alt=\"LHSignThumb\" width=\"250\" height=\"360\" \/>W<\/span><\/strong>hile the Lincoln Hwy idea was originated by Carl Fisher in Indianapolis and was tirelessly promoted from here in its beginning stages, it did not run through Indianapolis. None of it! <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">There were several reasons why this was so. To begin, because he had a lot of big money contacts, Henry Joy, the president of the Packard Motor Co, had been chosen by Fisher to become the president of the Lincoln Hwy Assn. And yet even though the LHA headquarters moved north to Detroit after the route west had been successfully scouted from Indianapolis, the Lincoln Hwy did not pass through Detroit either. Instead, a 245 mile spur connected it to the Lincoln at Valparaiso, IN which is 150 miles north of the Indy 500 City. In making<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>the connection between New York City and Chicago more direct, the Lincoln had found it important to bypass both Indianapolis and Detroit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">They could not miss the<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Windy City because the railroad had made it<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>an important lynch pin to cross country travel. As one boxcar after another brought cows to its slaughterhouses, Chicago had become the center of focus for much of the Nation. In fact, from from 1865 to 1880, cowboy led cattle drives originating in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and even Montana, all marched herds to Chicago<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>bound rail heads. By the tine Fisher and his group began mapping their Transamerica route, then, Chicago, already doing business with many of the lands west of the Mississippi River, could not be bypassed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Another factor made Chicago important. Bridges. Over first the Mississippi River. And then the Missouri River. Even if bridges strong enough for cars had not been built over them, a hotter more southerly route across America would have not only moved<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>travelers away from Chicago, and even Indianapolis, it would have placed them in more remote parts of country.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>And still left them with two unbridged rivers to cross, the Arkansas and Colorado Rivers, after they made it over the Mississippi. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Besides, there was already a well worn travel way between Chicago and Fulton, Illinois at the Mississippi River<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>the Lincoln Hwy coud use. From there, they could use the Lyons Fulton Bridge. It had been built in 1891 to get cars, horses and pedestrians from Fulton to Clinton, Iowa on the other side of the mammoth Mississippi.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Once over the Ole Man River, the also formidable Missouri River on the other side of Iowa had to be crossed. For this the Lincoln Hwy route would use the Ak-Sar-Ben Bridge<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>that had been built in 1888 to connect<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Council Buffs to Omaha, Nebraska. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Once over both of these water crossings, west coast bound travelers, were a few hundred miles north of the middle of the United States. This was important because it kept them from having to cross over the highest parts of the Rocky Mountains. Moving the Lincoln Hwy north of central Colorado also allowed it to roughly parallel the known lands surrounding the Oregon and Mormon Trails, as well as the transcontinental railroad<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>that we talked about in \u201cManifest Destiny and Taming the Western Frontier for Carl Fisher and the Automobile Age\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While the Lincoln Hwy idea was originated by Carl Fisher in Indianapolis and was tirelessly promoted from here in its&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2018\/09\/20\/why-the-lincoln-did-not-pass-through-indianapolis-or-colorado\/\">read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[127,128,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-indy-built-america","category-indianapolis-history","category-uncategorized-2"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3VuuR-3uu","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13823,"url":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2019\/01\/16\/table-of-contents-how-indianapolis-built-america-and-how-it-will-rebuild-it-with-the-national-bicycle-greenway\/","url_meta":{"origin":13422,"position":0},"title":"Table of Contents: &#8220;How Indianapolis Built America and H\u0010ow it will Rebuild it with the National Bicycle Greenway&#8221;","author":"awakeagainmartin@gmail.com","date":"January 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Table of Contents Preface Timeline of Coast-to-Coast Travel 1\u00a0 Manifest Destiny and Taming the Western Frontier for Carl Fisher and the Automobile Age 2\u00a0 Diamond Chain of Indianapolis, 1890 to present 3\u00a0 Carl Fisher, PT Barnum of Automobile Age 4\u00a0 Lincoln Hwy of 1914, first Coast-to-Coast Road 5\u00a0 Why Lincoln\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;How Indy Built America&quot;","block_context":{"text":"How Indy Built America","link":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/category\/how-indy-built-america\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Screen-Shot-2019-01-16-at-10.18.27-AM.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13464,"url":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2018\/09\/24\/before-and-after-of-the-1909-fisher-automobile-co-now-a-krogerslodging-complex\/","url_meta":{"origin":13422,"position":1},"title":"Before and After of the  1909 Fisher Automobile Co now a Krogers\/Lodging Complex","author":"awakeagainmartin@gmail.com","date":"September 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Before and After. The first is of the Fisher Automobile Co, the catalyst for America's first coast-to-coast road, the Lincoln Hwy, and genesis for Indianapolis Auto Row which dominated a seven-or-more-block area of its downtown with car related businesses...... The second is a Google aerial of the present Kroger's supermarket\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Auto Row&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Auto Row","link":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/category\/auto-row\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"38269225_2121066238181077_990414261547171840_o","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/38269225_2121066238181077_990414261547171840_o.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/38269225_2121066238181077_990414261547171840_o.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/38269225_2121066238181077_990414261547171840_o.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/38269225_2121066238181077_990414261547171840_o.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/38269225_2121066238181077_990414261547171840_o.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/38269225_2121066238181077_990414261547171840_o.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15637,"url":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2020\/12\/14\/getting-the-nbg-route-signed\/","url_meta":{"origin":13422,"position":2},"title":"Getting the NBG Route Signed","author":"awakeagainmartin@gmail.com","date":"December 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"This is how the Lincoln Highway, the first coast-to-coast car road, that originated in Indianapolis, marked their route. In plotting the methodology for getting markers on the ground for our National Bicycle Greenway that is on line at bikeroute.com, this one of the details we are\u00a0 working five days a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Lincoln Hwy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Lincoln Hwy","link":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/category\/lincoln-hwy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/131297893_10218384022008738_1244063160554591552_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/131297893_10218384022008738_1244063160554591552_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/131297893_10218384022008738_1244063160554591552_n.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13344,"url":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2018\/09\/08\/carl-fishers-last-years-in-flrida\/","url_meta":{"origin":13422,"position":3},"title":"Carl Fisher&#8217;s Last Years in Florida","author":"awakeagainmartin@gmail.com","date":"September 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"In my research about Carl Fisher for \"How Indianapolis Built America and H\u0010ow it will Rebuild it with the National Bicycle Greenway\", I came across this rare photo of him. The words here are excerpted from the huge chapter this man's huge life has earned in my book: [..] \"Fisher\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Carl Fisher&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Carl Fisher","link":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/category\/carl-fisher\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"38805712_2130978067189894_421558509050527744_n","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/38805712_2130978067189894_421558509050527744_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/38805712_2130978067189894_421558509050527744_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/38805712_2130978067189894_421558509050527744_n.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/38805712_2130978067189894_421558509050527744_n.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13159,"url":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2018\/05\/31\/coast-to-coast-transportation-history-timeline-from-how-indianapolis-built-america\/","url_meta":{"origin":13422,"position":4},"title":"Coast-to-Coast Transportation History Timeline from How Indianapolis Built America","author":"awakeagainmartin@gmail.com","date":"May 31, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"1795 First ferry, a pirogue, crosses Mississippi River into what is now St. Louis 1803-1806 Lewis & Clark (33). Began from William Clark\u2019s Clarsksville, IN on Ohio River 100 miles south of Indianapolis 1804 First full-scale working railway steam locomotive by Richard Trevithic, UK 1806 National Rd. Commissioned by Thomas\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;How Indy Built America&quot;","block_context":{"text":"How Indy Built America","link":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/category\/how-indy-built-america\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Screen Shot 2018-05-31 at 11.57.41 AM","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-05-31-at-11.57.41-AM.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-05-31-at-11.57.41-AM.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-05-31-at-11.57.41-AM.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16692,"url":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/2022\/07\/13\/nbg-direction-posted-at-bikeroute-com\/","url_meta":{"origin":13422,"position":5},"title":"NBG Direction (posted at BikeRoute.com)","author":"awakeagainmartin@gmail.com","date":"July 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Celebrating Cycling in Cities Where People Live By combining the work our NBG Scouts did from 1998 to 2010, with the GPS input that came our way when we had interactive maps at our site (2007-2009) and then the crowd sourced bike route data that Google now has on line,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Velo-mobile-with-fountain.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Velo-mobile-with-fountain.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Velo-mobile-with-fountain.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Velo-mobile-with-fountain.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13422"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13423,"href":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13422\/revisions\/13423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bikeroute.com\/NationalBicycleGreenwayNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}