Traveling the Old Red Trail

ROAD MAINTENANCE
During the early years of the Red Line Trail, counties did all of the maintenance work. Some of the roads were kept up, but many were not. In most cases, it consisted of a truck pulling a heavy harrow (a farm implement used to break up and even off the ground). Little, if anything, was done to filling holes and cracks in the road surface In 1925 the Highway Commission began to oversee all of the work that was to be done on state highways. Workers were now sent out to grade the roads, using scrapers and repair cracks and holes in the roads surface.

Travel along much of Highway 10 was still confined to the warmer months, but by 1930 many people traveled year round. Prior to that time, no effort was expended on snow removal. In places where snow was a major problem, snow fences were constructed.

During the 1930s, the Highway Commission purchased some snowplows to clear the highway. The device used most often for snow plowing was a V-plow attached to the front of a truck.