The above photo, taken by TC Wohlbrück, shows Big Bend during the Lincoln Highway era. We are looking east, with the road heading off to the right, and the ranger station straight ahead. The original path of the Lincoln Highway through the Sierras often followed the earlier wagon roads, and the car was a new thing, and roads were just starting to keep up. The Lincoln Highway was America’s first transcontinental highway, and its construction was the first attempt to transition from wagon to auto.

The same location is shown in the above photo. I’m standing on “Old Wagon Road,” where it meets Hampshire Rocks Road. Old Wagon Road is the Emigrant Trail and Lincoln Highway. We can see the old road just up ahead, veering to the right. There is still a ranger station off to the left. Before it was Hampshire Rocks Road, this stretch of Highway 40, built in the early 1930s, improved on the older Lincoln Highway.

The photo above shows the old road just a few yards off Hampshire Rocks Road. The road goes about another 1/4 mile, and then rejoins the modern highway.