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Prairie Public

 

 

Auto Touring

Researched and written by Gina Phillips for Prairie Public

Early Tourist Camps

The popularity of the automobile at the beginning of the 20th century created a whole new culture for American citizens. Before the advent of the automobile, tourists were forced to follow strict timetables and schedules, which determined where, when and how fast to travel. Auto touring literature at the time described automobile transportation as a revival of the stagecoach and carriage travel. According to writers in the field of automobile travel at the time “railroads … robbed the roads of the picturesque and free means of travel [by stagecoach and carriage] and nothing took its place until the dawn of the motor car”. The railroad entry into a town was often industrial in view showing the most unattractive parts of the town as a first impression. The automobile entrance into a city was through the pleasant and reassuring view of Main Street with its locally owned businesses. A 1926 article in the North Dakota Highway Bulletin encouraged local towns to beautify the highway entrance to their town claiming “a nice, clean or even artistic entrance on the highway entering the city” creates a good impression of the character of the people that live there. In addition, “the auto traveler not only comes to [the] city but he passes through; his acquaintance …is longer and more intimate, and therefore his impressions are more lasting. Consequently, the highway entrance is fully if not more important than the railroad entrance to our community”. By 1920, there were over 250 named trails throughout the United States and about 100 trail organizations existed to promote good roads. The automobile strengthened both provincial and national ties as the See America First movement swept the nation. In order to generate publicity and money, many organizations boosted trails on the ideal of nationalism – automobile travel as a form of “ritual citizenship” and patriotic duty. The named trails helped promote a national unity and a sense of a shared national history. Travelers were able to experience and authenticate American history through travel on these trails as well as slow down and enjoy the process of traveling. The National Park Service promotion of roads helped make auto touring a process rather than a product. The process of auto camping was also called: motor gypsying, motor hoboing, nomadic motoring, gypsying deluxe, auto tramping and motor vagabonding.

According to the Official Road Guide published by the Lincoln Highway Association in 1915:
For campers, the single most expensive item was gasoline, which ranged from 20 cents a gallon in metropolitan areas to 50 cents a gallon in the desert. On good roads the average car might get 20 miles to the gallon, but much less in mud and on rough grades. Oil cost 15-40 cents a quart and was used profusely. Tires were expensive and wore out easily.

Frank Brimmer, author of Autocamping and many journal articles in the field of automobile culture during the 1920s, stated: “auto camping is by far the most popular and fastest growing outdoor sport” judging from the 12 million people indulging in it and the amount of money invested in the equipment. The average cost of a motor camping outfit was $198.00 (excluding the automobile) and camping parties on average spent $7.17 per day.

Around 1920, free municipal campgrounds were set up in many towns to accommodate auto travelers.The popularity of the automobile, quadrupled the number of car registrations from 4.6 million in 1917 to 19.2 million in 1926. Municipal auto camps became a necessity for travelers as they were the only economically viable places the majority of citizens could stay while traveling. According to the United States Touring Bureau, a 1922 survey disclosed there were 1200 cities and towns in the country offering camping grounds and facilities to auto tourists, many without charge. Most provided conveniences such as police protection, electric lights, toilets, cooking facilities and permanent shelters. These public camps were sponsored by the town park board, civic clubs or chamber of commerce and were often located in centrally located parks. Town boosters encouraged campers to camp in town and purchase goods from local businesses. In Americans on the Road: From Autocamp to Motel, 1910-1945, W. J. Belasco stated:“to play host to automobile tourists was to participate in an important new movement, to have special contact with the outside world”. This desire to accommodate those from the “outside world” often forced towns into costly competition for improved conditions such as flushing toilets, showers and community buildings as word of mouth became a vital form of advertisement for tourist camps.

Because of the explosive popularity of auto touring, roadside camps needed rules and improved conditions to allow for competitive and healthy camping facilities. By the early 1920s, motoring literature, such as Frank Brimmer’s Autocamping (1923), started publishing courtesy and etiquette columns pleading with auto campers to protect the countryside. In 1923, the Motorists’ League for Countryside Protection formed and AAA issued Courtesy of the Camp which stated tourists should pick up trash, should not pull up flowers, and should not leave fires burning. By 1924, user’s fees were advocated in order to upgrade camps, make financial improvements, win back affluent tourists and eliminate poor tourists. Many areas limited access to camps by way of fee imposition, registration requirements, police supervision and time limits in order to eliminate abuse of the campsites. Towns along the National Parks Highway enforced a 48 to 72 hour limit in order to discourage peddlers and vagrants.

Many towns along the Old Red Trail, the National Parks Highway, boosted tourist camps.The North Dakota Good Roads Magazine encouraged local tourist camps to become standardized in that the camping grounds should be easily accessible from the business section of town. In addition, signs were to be placed about the business section and on roads leading into town to direct tourists to the grounds. The magazine noted that a good tourist camp would have the following items:

Six trails, all crossing other highways running through the country, passed through Fargo in the early 1920s so an impressive auto camp was a necessity for tourists. The original tourist camp was located on four acres of well-shaded ground on Darling Road. Travelers were directed south on 8th street to 13th Avenue, then east on River Road to the campsite. This campsite was too far from downtown Fargo resulting in a camp that was too hard to reach. In the fall of 1921, the tourist camp moved to Oak Grove Park. “[T]he (Fargo Camp) grounds nestle in a crook of the Red River, making a quiet nook with many shade trees, plenty of places for campfires, all within two blocks of Fargo’s pavement.” W. P. Chestnut, Secretary of the Fargo Commercial Club stated “several of the tourists told me there wasn’t a finer piece of ground for camping purposes on the entire trail”.

Valley City boasted a number of tourist attractions including a nice park system, zoo, picnic park, Chautauqua, country club, fair grounds and a tourist park. The tourist camp was located near the banks of the Sheyenne River between the National Parks Highway and the North Star Trail. It was a wooded strip of six to eight acres with electric lights, running water, toilets, grates for cooking, and picnic tables. The Valley City tourist camp was under the supervision of the park commission and proved to be very popular. Businessmen estimated that the tourists who stopped in Valley City in the summer of 1921 spent over $100,000 in local businesses.

While the tourist camp located in Jamestown was not as large or elaborate as others in the state, it offered amenities to the weary auto traveler.This auto camp was located on the banks of the James River in the county fair grounds and was sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.

C. J. Foye started the Steele auto tourist camp in 1926 and claimed it was the first tourist camp in North Dakota (which it wasn’t as there were tourist camps set up in Fargo, Valley City, Jamestown, Bismarck by 1921). Travelers were expected to carry their own tents and paid $.50 per night for a tent and car space. The camp boasted four sunshades, four tables with benches and camp stoves. Foye moved his two car garage to the area and installed a gas engine and generator to produce light for the camp. In addition, electrical lines ran from the city so he was able to use either city or private electricity.
One of the main features of the Bismarck tourist camp was its location, east of town, on the Red Trail, located on the State Prison grounds. The North Dakota Good Roads Magazine claimed:
One of the outstanding features of its camp is the unique advertising that many of the tourists have given it. New articles have appeared in many parts of the United States of tourist parties who had the privilege of stopping at the prison grounds while in North Dakota.

A postcard from the North Dakota State Historical Society shows the Mandan tourist camp with the following advertisement:
Mandan possesses an excellent auto tourist night camp in the Chautauqua Park. A suitable building has been provided with stoves and fuel for the accommodation of tourists. A splendid well furnishes water for drinking and cooking while the Heart River can be used for bathing and for washing clothes.

In 1924 tourist grounds were set up in Almont to accommodate travelers driving through on the Red Trail until the road was rerouted in 1928.Almont was bypassed by the rerouting of the road. New Salem also boasted Geissler Service Station and Cabins until it became known as Braasch Standard Station and Hilltop Inn.

In 1920, Glen Ullin had a tourist camp park ground located at the west end of town next to the creek on the south avenue of Block 47. The park was used until 1933 when the signs, benches and buildings were taken down.