Auto Tour Signs in the 1960s

NPS

In 1965, the Lewis and Clark Trail Commission approved a sign for the Lewis and Clark Trail highway. Before this date, the auto route was marked in a myriad of ways, but the commission sought to unify the auto route under a single marker.

In 1964, the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation announced a contest to design a sign for the auto route, and the J. N. Darling Foundation was to choose the winning design. However, neither the winning nor the second-place design was chosen. The commission decided instead on a design bearing the silhouettes of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in buckskin brown. This sign created a uniformly marked auto route for the first time in the trail’s existence.

Although the sign’s design has since changed, the buckskin brown silhouettes of the two explorers remain. Be on the lookout for the famed silhouettes as you explore the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail auto route!