Arrowhead Trail (1914- 1924)

Las Vegas promoters claimed they invented this road, and in a sense they did. The Arrowhead Trail was the first automobile highway to connect Los Angeles with Las Vegas and on to Salt Lake City—one of the named routes of the Good Roads movement, built between 1914 and 1924. It was a grassroots effort: chambers of commerce raised money and volunteers graded an all-weather route across the desert, betting that drivers would come if the road existed. They were right. The Arrowhead Trail was later numbered U.S. Highway 91, and much of it lies beneath Interstate 15 today.

What the plaque says

Las Vegas promoters claimed to be the originators of this all-weather route between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. From the beginning, the Arrowhead Trail was a “grass roots” effort, including promotion by various chambers of commerce and volunteer construction by local citizens. However, it was Charles H. Bigelow, from Los Angeles, who gave the trail publicity. Between 1915 & 1916, he drove the entire route many times in the twin-six Packard he named “Cactus Kate.” The trail, which extends near here, was built in 1915 and completed the section between St. Thomas and Las Vegas. In its day it denoted a milestone of progress.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Valley of Fire State Park — 5.3 mi
  Jurassic sand dunes turned to blazing red stone — Nevada's oldest and largest state park
• Lost City Museum — 7.8 mi
  The Ancestral Puebloan metropolis Lake Mead drowned — and the museum that saved what it could
• Lake Mead National Recreation Area — 27 mi
  The largest reservoir in the country — and its most legible drought gauge

More markers nearby

• Nevada’s First State Park — 2.8 mi
• Pueblo Grande De Nevada — 6.7 mi
• Powell of the Colorado — 8.5 mi
• Moapa Valley — 14 mi