Page 38 - AAA Magazine – AAA Ohio Auto Club – May 2019

AMERICA’S NATIONAL PARKS BY RAIL
Cenlebrate Two Milestones This Year By Spenser F. Barnes
O May 10, 1869, the ceremonial golden has become the second-most visited national park in spike was hammered in the ground near the United States behind the Great Smoky Mountains in
Promontory, Utah, and transcontinental rail North Carolina and Tennessee.
travel was made possible.
While the cost has risen a bit since then, you can
re-create the journey with Amtrak, and even travel along some of the same routes as First Transcontinental Railroad to celebrate the 150th anniversary of transcontinental rail travel.
Along the way, you can visit another American icon celebrating a milestone in 2019.
It might have taken more than 35 years from when the first bill was introduced to get National Park status for the Grand Canyon, but the Arizona landmark is celebrating its 100th anniversary as a national park. Officially designated as such by an act of Congress on February 26, 1919, this UNESCO World Heritage Site
When you combine a rail adventure with the classic natural beauty of our national park system, it’s almost magical. The connection between our nation’s national parks and the train has always been strong.
Many people don’t realize that America’s early railroad companies were instrumental in creating our national parks. Because of their energetic public relations efforts, the Northern Pacific Railroad aided in the national park designation of Yellowstone in 1872. The Southern Pacific Railroad worked diligently behind the scenes to help Yosemite and Crater Lake obtain their national park statuses in 1890 and 1902, respectively. Also, the Great Northern Railway paved the way for the creation of Glacier National Park in 1910.
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