GENERAL

William Hope “Coin” Harvey (1831-1936) was a lawyer, real estate developer, and advocate of “free silver.” He authored books on finance and was an advisor to William Jennings Bryan during the 1896 elections. His money came from silver mining in Colorado and other projects. He was  politically active, running for president in 1932 for his own Liberty party and got 54,000 votes. The nickname “Coin” came from his advocacy of financial reform and the free coining of silver.

Harvey purchased Monte Ne property (320 acres) in 1900, named it Monte Ne (“Mountain Waters” according to Harvey) and began developing in 1901. He built a 5 mile RR spur from St. Louis – San Francisco Line at the town of Lowell; guests traveled the last ½ mile by boat. He conceived OT to bring traffic from 4 states when RR went broke and was abandoned in1910. 

Assn. was organized on July 10, 1913, at which time he already had a map (see Lawler, pg. 11) though he began planning as early as 1910. Its intent was to mark and connect roads in AR, OK, MO, and KS to Monte Ne. Texas,NM, Colorado and Nebraska were later added, with the main line running about 1100 miles from St. Louis to Las Vegas, NM. It was not in the business of building roads; only promoting them. OTA dues were $5.00 per year.

The main line routes were adopted in 1916 at the Amarillo convention after much competition among cities wanting the route and among promotion of different routes. A mainline was initially established, though changes would come later with splits in the mainline and new branches added, some of which came after the route books of 1918 and 1919.

Official colors of the OTA:  Green and White (white field, green OT in the middle; stripe top & bottom).

US Good Roads Assn. chartered April 25, 1913. HQ was in Birmingham. Its goals were to seek federal aid and Establish a Nat’l. Hwy. Commission for building roads.

Harvey stepped down as president at the 1920 Pittsburg , KS convention, though he still called the shots. Harvey was skeptical about the future of civilization, and he next focused on a 150-tall monument in Monte Ne that would contain a time capsule explaining why civilization collapsed as well as instructions on how to rebuild and artifacts showing the state of technology of the time. It was never built. The resort property was covered by Beaver Lake in the 1960s.

By the mid-1920s, there were around 250 different named trails. (Lopez)

Harvey envisioned the OT to be a hard-surface link in an ocean-to-ocean highway. (Lopez)

Cyrus Avery was a strong supporter of the OTA, bringing their convention to Tulsa in 1914 and becoming a vice-president.

By 1916, three routes (northern, central and southern) had been proposed. Even then it was confusing; tracing them today is not possible. Final route selections were made at the 1917 Amarillo convention. This was heavily influenced by the amount of improvements made by those along the proposed routes. Generally, the more central rotue was chosen—Tulsa, OKC , Amarillo,  and Las Vegas, NM, establishing a corridor for future Route 66. 

At the 1918 convention in Miami, Harvey proclaimed that the OTA had 2,000 miles of adopted and marked roads and was promoting a total of 7,000 miles of roads. It was here that Harvey first proposed permanent markers on the trails, calling initially for 12 between Springfield, MO and and Las Vegas,at OT branch junctions, with a 50 ft. tall monument at Romeroville to signify the jct. with the Santa Fe Trail. Almost all were destroyed or buried within a few years of the implementation of the uniform numbering system in 1926. There is no accounting of how many were actually built. (Murphey)

At the 1919 Roswell convention, controversy erupted over a proposal to extend the route south through Artesia and Carlsbad to Van Horn, TX to connect with the Old Spanish Trail. Known as the Pecos Valley Route, at the 1920 convention this route won approval as an “altenative” route to El Paso, leaving the primary route from Roswell to El Paso via Alamogordo. Note: this route shifted in 1922 from Malaga to Pecos, TX, rather than to Van Horn, TX.

Tulia’s J.E. Swepston was elected OTA president at the 1920 Pittsburg, KS convention.

1921 Shawnee convention featured the “Chandler-to-Sulphur” branch promoters and “insurgents” from the Hobart – Mangum delegation who tried to take over the OTA to ensure they would remain on the official route. They were thrown out of the OTA.

At the 1923 Joplin, MO convention, Chandler’s  J.A. “Big Mack” McLaughlin was elected president. No further conventions were scheduled.

With the coming of the numbered routes, Avery adapted the path of the Ozark Trails to his blueprint for a major Chicago-to-LA route from St. Louis to Romeroville. 

About all that’s left today of the OT are some section line roads and stretches adopted by Route 66 or other state & US highways, including the a section of former US 366 between Roswell and Kenna, NM.

Parts of the OT in NM were later adopted by US routes 66, 285, and 366. 

US 366 was decommissioned in 1937 and redesignated US 70. A 1921 unpaved alignment of OT/US 366  with an anonymous FAP marker remains between Elkins and Kenna, NM, now known as Railroad Mountain Road and accessed from US 70 NE of Roswell near Elkins or SW of Clovis at Kenna. Distance is 23 miles.

Midway Service Station in Kenna opened in 1938 and was originally a Phillips 66. Postmistress is Maurene Howard. (Murphey)

There is no official date of the OTA disbanding, though no conventions were held after 1924. Some researchers suggest it may have continued to operate until 1926 or even 1927.

The OTA Log Book was published in 1918 with one map, lots of ads, and directions using landmarks and mileage. The Ozark Trails Route Book was published in 1919 and contained numerous maps along with photos, ads, descriptions of towns, etc.

The OTA was one of the last Good Roads orgs, and didn’t have a significant impact. It has some influence on later roads, but not great. Was good for promoting towns and encouraging tourism.

Organizational papers of the OTA have not been found.

Mapping is not comprehensive and in places fragmented / contradictory.