Lady Bird Johnson, Thank You for Trying

Road Signs: Then, 1849 

The old Way West was only marked by whatever wagon tracks were in front of the emigrants' feet.  The only "road signs" consisted of grave markers and -- interestingly -- a few words of advice and requests to following wagon companies written on the bleached skulls and bones of bison and oxen who died or were slaughtered on the trail.  

Grave markers were nervously and meticulously recorded by a number of diarists.  Three such chroniclers recorded the grave marker of my ancestor, "Captain Pleasant Gray, Huntsville, Texas". It is estimated that there were about ten deaths for every mile of the California-Oregon trail (20,000 deaths/2,000 mile trail).

"Were there no other marks, to guide the emigrant upon his way, the graves upon either side of the trail would be sufficient to direct him with unerring certainty for hundreds of miles.  We have frequently passed from 8 to 15 graves in a single day's drive."  Elmon S. Camp, July 8, 1849

"The means of communication with the trains in front was the "Bone Express." The road was strewn with bones mostly buffaloes.  On these white bones the passing pilgrim would pencil his message, and place it in a conspicuous place by the roadside, an open letter to all to read.  Sometimes the lack-luster skull would inform John that Mary was all right, or a corollary would inform Polly that James was going to take the California road, assuring her that wood and water were better on that route."  George B. Currey, 1853

Most of the graves and grave markers and all of the skulls and bones are now gone.  In fact, there are very few signs that emigrants ever passed anywhere along the hallowed California Oregon Trail.  A few ruts and swales have been turned into state parks; even then one must have a vivid imagination....

Wagon rut swale, Santa Fe Park, Independence MO -- see the swale?

Road Signs: Now 2017

With the invention of the Interstate highway system in the 1950s came a companion:  road signs.  And, it was not long before the American genius for monetizing resulted in a new and bountifully lucrative industry: the Outdoor Advertising Association of America.  

In the 1960s Lady Bird Johnson championed the clean up of junkyards and billboards along highways.  Her view:  "Ugliness is so grim.  A little beauty, something that is lovely...can help create harmony which will lessen tensions."   What a quaint idea... in so many ways.

The Great Legislator, Lyndon Johnson, took up the cause saying "a new and substantial effort must be made to landscape highways to provide places of relaxation and recreation wherever our roads run."  And so, the Highway Beautification Act of 1965 was passed, but with compromise for "those areas of commercial and industrial use."   

These areas of commercial and industrial use are defined by each individual state.  Utah and Nevada are leading the way to a bright future for billboards.  Interstate 15 leading out of Las Vegas towards St. George Utah was a revelation.  First because it's a 12 lane freeway leading into the desert.  Second because of the huge size and height of the outdoor billboards.  These line the freeway, on both sides, facing drivers as they leave Las Vegas, a veritable corridor of giants.  They are placed at convenient intervals such that the occupants of all vehicles can read 8-12 words per billboard, before reading the next... 

Unfortunately, I could not stop to take a photograph of the sight.  However, I was able to dictate into my iPhone the vendors who had paid to advertise on similar billboards in the miles leading up to Riverside, NV.  Along with the advertisers you'd expect -- the Dairy Queens, pizza joints, Chevrons, golf resorts and Marriotts -- are some surprises:

- World Wildlife Fund -- donations, please
- Save the Child Foundation -- donations, please
- Utah State University  -- apply, please
- Bureau of Land Management/Forest Service -- "please don't launch your drone in the middle of a fire" (hey kids, let's see if we can bring down a plane full of water & firefighters...)

Perhaps the biggest single advertiser was Values.com (Foundation for a Better Life) who has a TV and outdoor billboard campaign and who enjoys the "tremendous support of the Outdoor Advertising Association of America and its members, including Clear Channel, Lamar, CBS Outdoor, JC Decaux North America and Van Wagner Communications."

In 2007 Mike helicoptered to to the town of Westport on a peninsula in Iceland near highly productive cod fishing grounds.  Westport was of interest because it had been nearly destroyed by a slow-moving lava flow. The fish processing plant, however, was rebuilt on the last remaining toehold of land upwind of the heliport.  It smelled awful.  When asked about it, the guide responded "that's the smell of money...."

It's a choice "we the people" make.  And can un-make.

No harm, no foul?  I've become expert at "cropping" scenery.  The sky is beautiful.