by Prairie Rivers of Iowa | Sep 30, 2024
Two people from Prairie Rivers of Iowa (PRI) recently added Certified Professional Guide titles to their names through the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach’s Professional Guide Certification Program. Jeanie Hau, PRI’s byway Coordinator and Shellie Orngard, a Special Projects contractor, made presentations to State Tourism Specialist Diane Van Wyngarden as the final step in the certification process.
“To be able to share the stories of the people who have lived along our byways in the most interesting and engaging way possible was the reason I sought this certification.” Hau said. Her presentation was about Charlie Reed and how the Lincoln Highway and the Jefferson Highways (which meet at the corner of where his farm was) enhanced his life and the people who he met at this crossing.
“I am committed to historic preservation along the Lincoln Highway in Iowa, and being able to tell the stories of the people and places along the Lincoln is the first step toward preservation,” Orngard said. Her presentation focused on the establishment and first decade of the Lincoln Highway, a story told through the traveling exhibit “Promise Road: How the Lincoln Highway Changed America,” she created in 2022 with funding from the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs.
Professional Guide Certification candidates complete a training program of best practices to deliver quality experiences to visitors. The final certification process is conducted at each individual’s location of choice, where they must effectively demonstrate the professional guide practices most appropriate for their unique organization or attraction. Individuals who achieve Professional Guide Certification work to provide quality Iowa visitor experiences, and earn certification from Iowa State University.
Hau’s and Orngard’s names have been added to a statewide list of certified guides. To see the list or get more information about Iowa State University Extension and Outreach’s professional guide training workshop and certification program, see https://go.iastate.edu/VAX4FG or contact ISU Extension Tourism Specialist, Diane Van Wyngarden at dvw@iastate.edu.
by Jonathan Sherwood | Nov 4, 2022
On a recent beautiful crisp fall morning, Prairie Rivers of Iowa staff and a volunteer set out to travel the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway through urban streets and gravel roads in Story and Boone counties. Byway Coordinator Jonathan Sherwood is starting a new project across all thirteen counties and 43 municipalities to inventory and assess the condition of the Byway’s signage. These signs are a critical part byway infrastructure and have historical significance as an evolution of what came before.
From the beginning of the Lincoln Highway, tools were needed to assist the traveler including guidebooks and signs along the route. In the early era of the established transcontinental route, signs were painted on telephone poles ad hoc by local councils and volunteers.
Today travelers along the historic route in Iowa rely on guidebooks, maps, and signage. These aids are thanks to the efforts of many individuals, organizations such as Prairie Rivers, and government agencies like the Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT).
Over time all the byway signs need to be maintained. The condition of the signs has ranged from excellent to vandalized, bent, and faded from the sun. Some signs are missing from their original location. The signs are always located at any turn with directional arrows. They are also located after any turn in the route where another sign confirms that the traveler is on the right path.
The inventory aims to improve the quality of the signage out on the roadway network, improve the life cycle of each sign from ordering, fabricating, installing, maintaining, and removing, improve the ability to budget for these key assets on a statewide basis, provide a tool for the decision maker to do signage related scenario planning.
The Iowa DOT has developed a geospatial program to maintain and update data on locations and conditions of signs statewide. Prairie Rivers’ staff are using iPads with ESRI’s ArcGIS Field Maps app loaded with IDOT data to wholly complete the survey. Previously condition reports were recorded based on individual needs, at specific times, in different districts or regions.
According to PRI staff, “This is a great way to see the byway while traveling down gravel roads at 25 mph, much like the original traveler in their Ford Model T.”
The project is expected to run through the fall and wrap up before road conditions deteriorate.
by Janice Gammon | May 4, 2020
Public support can do wonderful things and we are witnessing its strength during this COVID-19 pandemic. We are seeing people come together as seamstresses make masks, distilleries make hand sanitizers, and manufacturers retool to make personal protective equipment (PPE). Social distancing, no large groups, and wearing masks are our new “normal.” Hopefully there will be a vaccine soon to eradicate this virus.
Re-reading the Winter edition of The Lincoln Highway Forum https://www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org/forum/, our attention was drawn to an article written in 1914 by Henry B. Joy, President of the Lincoln Highway Association. He talks about public support for the Lincoln Highway and commented that the Highway helped spur the improved road movement for two reasons: 1) It was a definite accomplishment with a “real, tangible goal towards which to work as well as crystallizing scattered efforts.” 2) It was a monumental tribute to “our martyred president.”
The 3,400 miles of road was in need of improvements and Carl Fisher, the idea man behind the Lincoln Highway, had an initial cost estimate of $10,000,000. He and the Association began fundraising efforts. Initial funds of $300,000 come from a variety of sources including the President of the United States, state governors, US Senators and Representatives, large industrial organizations. and high dignitaries of many religious denominations. Among the most heartwarming donations were bags of pennies, nickles, and dimes from the school children in a small Nebraska town and seven cents from children in an Alaskan school.
Henry B. Joy in the official LHA Packard, in 1915 stuck in the “gumbo” near LaMoille, Iowa.
The Association appointed state, county, and local consuls (representatives) representing the “highest class of citizens in every community- bankers, clergymen and business men of all kinds”- to organize the Association on a local level as they raised funds, exerted political influence, and gave their time, energy, and money freely to carry out the work. The Association office then turned its attention to promotion as it felt this network was strong enough to encourage the necessary improvements on a local level.
We see these local efforts when, in 1915, the Tama community pooled their money to create a unique bridge with side panels that spell out “LINCOLN HIGHWAY”. In 2018-2019, they once again helped out by supplementing restoration funds for the same bridge. 
This is what Americans do. See a need and fill it. We give our time, talents, and money. We build roads. We make masks and donate them. We get groceries for someone at risk or in quarantine. We care for the sick. We rush into buildings to save lives. We will get through this COVID-19 pandemic and come out the other side as a more compassionate and cohesive nation and when we do, we will travel the Lincoln Highway- the road America built.
by Janice Gammon | Feb 28, 2020
Monarch on a Swamp Milkweed by Carl Kurtz
There are signs of spring 2020 along the Lincoln Highway! In some places, snow has melted away and some flowers are busting through the soil. That means spring is just around the corner. Home and Garden Shows are being held in many communities across Iowa. Also Camping and Boating shows! These types of events get people excited for warmer weather and for the eventual summer.
Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway Recreation and Camping Guide
Also check our our Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway Recreation and Camping brochure for ideas of where you can go along our route and enjoy the outdoors.
https://old.prrcd.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/10-18.UPD-Camp26RecBrochure.pdf What preparations are you making for spring? Cleaning closets? Raking the yard? Perusing garden catalogs and magazines? Getting your fishing gear ready? We all know that Thursday, March 19th is the first official day of spring, but, as Iowans, we know it can still snow in April and be chilly in May. What can we do in preparation in the meantime for the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway to get ready for spring? We know the Department of Transportation is tasked with handling the physical road repairs, but what can we do as a group or as an individual for the Byway? On my way to work today, I noticed some trash along the ditches and medians. Does your section of road have groups that participate in Adopt-A-Highway? If not, do you know of a group that could? Now I am not suggesting that you go into the median of a busy highway yourself to pick up trash without proper training or a safety vest, but if you are a landowner perhaps cleaning up your own ditch makes sense. (I know most do already.) If you live in the city, as I do now, ask your city how you can be part of a city-wide cleanup day. Perhaps there is a group that spruces up the entrance to your town to make it more inviting, not only for visitors, but for residents. This makes an impact on all and increases community pride. Some communities do a “swap” where leaders in one community go to another to view the community through “new eyes” as to what works well and what could be improved. Then leaders from that community go to the other and do the same type of review. Sometimes we don’t even notice things in our own back yard as we are accustomed to them. The official Iowa Byways sign for the Lincoln Highway Heritage BywayAre there buildings that could do with a fresh coat of paint? Every year
Paint Iowa Beautiful offers, through a grant application process, a chance to obtain paint through their program. (Sorry the 2020 deadline has passed, but please remember this for next year.)
One of my spring goals is to finish the Lincoln Highway Heritag
e Byway signage inventory. I know there are signs in 2 counties and 2 communities that I need to address. It’s been an on-going process for several years now. (There are 1200 signs across the state to monitor!)
Also on my list of to-do’s are to continue supporting attractions that are in need of restoration. Preston’s Station, Quirks’ Cabins, and a gas station in Montour are among the priorities. We are also planning several interpretive installations across the state that will increase education and promotion of the road.
Preston’s Station Historic District in Belle Plaine, Iowa taken by Mike Kelly
Let us know what spring events you have in the works and how we can help you promote them.
by Janice Gammon | Nov 19, 2019
The world of Byways changed on September 22, 2019 when “Reviving America’s Scenic Byways Act of 2019” was signed into law. It passed out of the U.S House of Representatives on a vote of 404-19 earlier this year and then was passed unanimously in the Senate. The President signed it on 9/22/19. The bill directs the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to restart the nomination process for National Scenic Byway status within 90 days of enactment, and to make a round of designations within one year.We are very grateful to Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) for their leadership on the bill in the Senate and to Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) and Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA) for their leadership in the House. See what other groups have to say about the passage of this bill and what it means for America at https://www.scenic.org/blog/president-signs-national-scenic-byways-bill-into-law/
We, at the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway, are patiently waiting to see what the guidelines and nomination requirements are for this re-energized program. Only in Illinois is the Lincoln Highway a National Scenic Byway. The route in the states of Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, and half of Pennsylvania are state byways. The other states (New York, New Jersey, West Virginia, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California) have not designated their portion of the historic route as a byway. One must first be a state byway before becoming a national byway.
In Iowa, we have two National Scenic Byways- the Loess Hills National Scenic Byway and the Great River Road National Scenic Byway. The Loess Hills runs along the western edge of the state and the Great River Road is along the Mississippi River on the eastern edge of Iowa. The Lincoln Highway connects to both of them.
Now keep in mind that no funding was attached to this bill. This is only to take nominations and approve byways for this distinction. That does not mean that funding couldn’t happen in the future, but it was not part of this bill.
A Corridor Management Plan has been a requirement in the past. We completed ours in late 2016 and have been working hard to implement the projects identified in that process. Twenty interpretive panels in 8 communities have been created and we have plans for several more. The rou
te has also been promoted in brochures, presentations, and at the Iowa State Fair. We have partnered with universities, government entities, other non-profits, and citizens to retain this historic road and its varied resources.
As we keep the momentum going, writing grants and planning projects, we desire to become a National Scenic Byway one day. We see the possibility on the horizon.
by Janice Gammon | Aug 27, 2019
Can summer really be over? It seems every year it goes faster and faster. We, here at the Byway office, seemed to have packed quite a bit into our last 3 months. Five communities celebrated 150 years this summer- Carroll, Dow City, Grand Junction, Scranton, and Westside. 
We entered a car into several of the parades and had Bob and Joyce Ausberger, Lincoln Highway Association members, help toss candy out to the crowd in Grand Junction. What a great way to share in the fun!
The Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway took 4 of the 11 days at the Iowa Byways booth under the grandstand at the Iowa State Fair (Aug 8-18) and talked to fair-goers about the unique Bywa
y routes in Iowa. We shared some history in a trivia spinning-wheel game. Everyone, of course, got a prize!
This year our new featured booklet at the fair was about the original 1919 Army Convoy, the Lincoln Highway, Henry Ostermann (the idea man behind the convoy and a man we have written about before), Dwight Eisenhower (who was on the original convoy)
, and Dwight’s wife, Mamie, (who was born in Boone, Iowa). These booklets are available at some state Welcome Centers and select locations along the Byway route. And of course, you can always request copies from our office at jgammon@prrcd.org
On August 15th, we unveiled an interpretive panel in the City of Montour’s Maple Hill Cemetery. This panel serves as a long overdue memorial to Henry Ostermann, who served the Lincoln Highway Association as their first Field Secretary and knew the road and the route better than anyone. He had been piloting convoys up and down the east coast in 1
917 and came up with the idea to test men, equipment, and roads by taking a convoy across the nation- on the Lincoln Highway. His idea was a reality in 1919. In 1920, on his 21st trip across the nation (and his honeymoon), he lost his life in an accident east of Montour, near the cemetery. In the August-September 1920 Iowa Highway Commission Service Bulletin, the IHC called for a memorial to be placed near the accident site.
In 2019, it became a reality (99 years later). About 25 people gathered to witness this installation. A small program consisted of several speakers: Reed Riskedahl (Prairie Rivers of Iowa Board); Mary Preston (Iowa Lincoln Highway Association President); Dotti Thompson (Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa/Tama County Community Foundation); Rev. John Christianson (Living Faith Methodist Church of Montour), Sue Eberhart (Montour City Council); and Jan Gammon (Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway Coordinator). Gammon also reads words from Rep. Dean Fisher of Montour. Sue Eberhart and Vicky Garske, Montour City Council members, unveiled the panel for all to see. During the program, a few sprinkles fell from the sky. In retrospect, maybe it was Mr. Ostermann verifying his overdue acknowledgement.
A few days later, we celebrated Mr. Ostermann once again as the Military Vehicle Preservation Association (MVPA) retraced the route of the original 1919 Convoy. The original convoy traveled about 6 mph and this modern day group, with vintage vehicles, averaged 35 mph. There was a link to live tracking, so a person could fo
llow the convoy as it made its way across America. Our Byway staff caught up with the convoy in Belle Plaine, Iowa and then saw them again in Tama, Marshalltown, and Nevada. The convoy was impressed by the amount of people who came out to see them- whether on a city street or at the end of their rural lane. Byway staff had helped promote this event in Iowa- sending out press releases, sharing our booklet, and doing interviews with KROS Radio in Clinton and also with RadioIowa. We are most appreciative to the public for their response.
The Lincoln Highway Association will also bring a convoy of classic and contemporary cars, retracing the same route. They will be in Iowa September 6th and 7th, overnighting in Marshalltown and Council Bluffs. They will go a little faster!
Now with fall approaching, its time to regroup and look for funding for future projects. We have some already being planned, so stay tuned!
by Janice Gammon | May 23, 2019
One hundred years ago, in what began as the idea of one man, America was shown how motor trucks could transport troops, supplies, arms, and ammunition across the nation. This was known in 1919 as the First Trans-Continental Motor Transport Convoy.
The Idea and Development
Henry Ostermann, who we talked about in a previous writing, had been piloting convoys for the Army up and down the east coast in the winter of 1917, during World War I. He was also serving as Field Secretary for the Lincoln Highway Association and merged his two occupations into one idea for the convoy.
In “A Picture of Progress on the Lincoln Way”, published by The Lincoln Highway Association (LHA) in 1920, the LHA officers and the General Staff in Washington held a conference in June 1919 to discuss convoy details. The success of the run was due to the LHA supplying accurate data to the Army as a “result of its years of study of trans-continental highway conditions, and of the co-operation given to the Motor Transport Corps, not only by the Headquarters of the Lincoln Highway Association, but by the consular representatives all along the line between the two coasts. The spirit with which the undertaking was met by the general public and the highway officials at every point along the route, was also invaluable to the project.”
The 1919 Army Convoy taking a break in Tama, Iowa. LHA Archive, Transportation History Collection, Special Collections, University of Michigan
The Route and Key Personnel
On July 7, 1919, send-off ceremonies were attended by high ranking United States officials, including Secretary of War Baker; General Marsh, Chief of Staff; and many leading U.S. Senators and Representative. At the conclusion of the celebration, the convoy left from “Zero Milestone” near the south lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C.. A marker stands there yet today to commemorate this historic adventure undertaken by the Army. The convoy left from Washington and caught the Lincoln Highway at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. (The Lincoln Highway actually begins in Times Square in New York.)
From the LHA, “The convoy, consisting of 72 vehicles, 65 of which were motor trucks of all types used by the Government during the war, with a personnel of 260 men and 35 officers as statisticians and observers for the various branches of service, under the command of Lt. Col. Charles B. McClure and Capt. Bernard McMahan, and led by Field Secretary and Vice-President H.C. Ostermann of the LHA, in the Association’s Packard, traversed the continent, covering a distance of 3310 miles from Washington to San Francisco, in sixty-two days, arriving only four days behind the schedule laid out in Washington before the start.”
A young Lt.Col. Dwight Eisenhower was one of the men on this trip. He caught up with the convoy at the first overnight location in Frederick. Maryland. He wrote about his experience and his report is on file at his Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene, Kansas. https://www.eisenhower.archives.gov.
Washing dust from a 1919 Army Convoy vehicle in Cedar Rapids. LHA Archives, Transportation History Collection, Special Collections Library, University of Michigan
What the Convoy Taught Us
Eisenhower found most of the drivers in need of additional training and, as with the rest of the convoy leaders, felt the nation’s roads to be lacking. In the Eastern United States, they were often paved but sometimes too narrow for the large equipment. West of Chicago, roads became graveled. Iowa was lucky because it had not rained which would have turned the unpaved road to “gumbo.” The “Seedling Mile,” a one mile of paved road in Linn County near Cedar Rapids, Marion, and Mount Vernon, was completed just prior to the Convoy. The group did not write about it much. As it was, the ground in Iowa was very dry and the convoy, according to the State Center Enterprise, stretched out for as much as 10 miles. Vehicles were kicking up quite a bit of dust and hindering the men and trucks following them. Nearly one hundred bridges were broken and repaired across the nation, though we have no record of any in Iowa. (Iowa was a leader in bridge building.)
This experience showed that America needed to improve roads and the federal government needed to step in with funding instead of leaving it to the locals and counties to build their own roads. How county secondary road departments, county engineers, Federal Highway Commission, and the Department of Transportation developed is a story all its own- which we will address in a later writing.
1919 Motor Convoy crossing the Lincoln Highway Bridge in Tama, Iowa. LHA Archives, Transportation History Collection, Special Collections Library, University of Michigan
What could have happened in Iowa if it had rained! LHA Archives, Transportation History Collection, Special Collections Library, University of Michigan
Celebrating the Convoy 100 Years Later
This one idea from one man helped change the course of transportation. This year, in 2019, we will celebrate the convoy as the Military Vehicle Preservation Association (MVPA) travels the same route, from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco, and will overnight in Iowa- DeWitt (Aug 22), Marshalltown (Aug 23), and Denison (Aug 24). The MVPA call their convoy the “longest Veteran’s parade in the nation.”
The Lincoln Highway Association will also celebrate with their own D.C.-to-San Francisco convoy and overnight in Marshalltown (Sept 6) and Council Bluffs (Sept 7). Be sure to line the route and wave either flags or hands (or both) to the convoys as they come through your neck of the woods.
by Janice Gammon | Jun 8, 2015
Summer is here! Let the festivals begin. My first taste of a Lincoln Highway festival was at the Tama-Toledo Lincoln Highway Bridge Park Festival on May 15th. The park is really looking nice with the plantings and the City of Tama having repaved part of the driveway. The festival program included children singing, the Mayor of Tama and other dignitaries speaking, and Abe Lincoln reciting his Gettysburg Address. The highlight of the night was getting a photo op with Abe Lincoln!
This past weekend I learned more about the history of the Meskwaki Nation at an event held in Ames in the North River Valley Park. The Meskwaki settled in Iowa around 1650 and their primary settlements were along the Mississippi River and rivers in Eastern Iowa, but the land they utilized ranged across the state. It was a hands-on event with a chance to grind corn and play with Native American toys and games.
In the 1830’s, under the Indian Removal Act, many Meskwaki were moved to Kansas. Some were able to hide in Iowa and never left and many others kept returning to Iowa from Kansas. Eventually the Meskwaki petitioned the young State of Iowa to allow them to purchase land. The nearby residents were asked their opinions and said it was OK with them. The Meskwaki are the only Indians to have purchased land and are not on a government reservation. Through my initial research, I knew this already. But I didn’t think about how the Amana Colony residents were part of the Iowans who were surveyed. These German people also had communal living and had no problem with the Meskwaki or their type of life. The road from the Meskwaki settlement to the Amana Colonies is now my sister Byway- The Iowa Valley Scenic Byway. (The Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway shares the Tama, Chelsea, and Belle Plaine communities with Iowa Valley.) I now have a greater appreciation for the connection between the Meskwaki, the Iowa River Valley and the Amanas!
Next weekend is the Bell Tower festival in Jefferson, Iowa. I have not been there before, but hope to get to the top of the tower and see the awesome Iowa landscape from a great height.
In my spare time, I have been reading Greg Franzwa’s book, “Alice’s Drive”. The contents of the book are a republishing of Alice Ramsey’s “Veil, Duster, and Tire Iron”, annotations, and Franzwa’s “Chasing Alice”. Alice was the first WOMAN to drive a car the entire route of the Lincoln Highway. She started her journey on June 9, 1909 in New York and took along her husband’s two sisters (Nettie and Margaret) and a “younger unattached friend” (Hermine). On August 7th, they made it to San Francisco. The car of choice was a Maxwell- a gift to Alice from her husband. The advance agent, the automobile editor of the Boston Herald, traveled by train and met them at certain locations to help get axles and other parts to the women as many repairs were required during the journey.
It interesting what they took with them. They replaced the 14 gallon fuel tank with a 20 gallon, brought 2 extra tires, spare tubes and a tire kit, had much needed tire chains for traction in mud, and supplies including matches to light acetylene lamps for head lights. Each woman was allowed one suitcase. Dresses then were floor length and bulky- not the light weight fabrics we have now. So clothes needed to be functional, not fancy, as not much could fit into one suitcase. Automobiles were not designed to bring luggage along. Most people did not go far enough in a car to require spending the night some where.
One funny story was that Nettie and Maggie brought very fancy luggage, complete with fancy “cutglass holders with sterling silver tops, for toothbrushes and other toilet articles”. The holders were small, but came in handy outside Cedar Rapids when trying to get through mud and the water in the radiator got low. Maggie suggested using the holders and she and Nettie used them as a pail to get water out of the ditches to fill the radiator. It took many trips back and forth to the ditch before they had enough water. They had to stop and do this 3 times before the women reached the next town and could get clean water for the radiator!
That is just one of the stories of early traveling in Iowa. I’ll share more next time. But for now, I better get traveling.
I’ll see you on the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway!
