Anton L. Westgard (1865 in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

– 3 April 1921), called "the Pathfinder", was a highway pioneer and photographer. Westgard was appointed by

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program ...

Director Logan Page to research appropriate locations for the first transcontinental highways. Westgard's 1911 cross-country field survey via automobile ultimately led to what would become the

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is the first transcontinental highway in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated October 31, 1913 ...

. Westgard also mapped the

National Park to Park Highway The National Park to Park Highway was an auto trail in the United States in the 1910s and 1920s, plotted by A. L. Westgard. It followed a large loop through the U.S. West, West, connecting twelve National Park (US), National Parks: *Rocky Mountai ...

for the

Automobile Association of America American Automobile Association (AAA – commonly pronounced as "Triple A") is a federation of motor clubs throughout North America. AAA is a privately held not-for-profit national member association and service organization with over 60 m ...

in 1920.

Westgard Pass Westgard Pass is a mountain pass on State Route 168 in Inyo County, California in the U.S. state of California. The pass lies at an elevation of and is located in between the White Mountains and Inyo Mountains ranges in the Basin and Range Pr ...

between the

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

and Inyo mountain ranges in the

Basin and Range Province The Basin and Range Province is a vast physiographic region covering much of the inland Western United States and northwestern Mexico. It is defined by unique basin and range topography, characterized by abrupt changes in elevation, alternating ...

of California is named after Westgard.

Published works

Motor Routes to the California Expositions
by A. L. Westgard, ''Motor'' Magazine, March 1915.

References

External links

Tales of a Pathfinder
Westgard's 1920 travelogue of some of his adventurous pathfinding trips. *
1913 US tour
at AutoGiftGarage.com 1865 births 1921 deaths American photographers {{US-photographer-stub