Editing U.S. Route 66 (section)

===Before the U.S. Highway System===
[[File:Rte66RightOfWayMarker.jpg|thumb|upright|A remnant of an original state right-of-way marker serves as a reminder of the early days of the road's construction. This was part of the 1927 construction of US&nbsp;66.]]

In 1857, Lt. [[Edward Fitzgerald Beale]], a naval officer in the service of the [[Corps of Topographical Engineers|U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers]], was ordered by the [[United States Department of War|War Department]] to build a government-funded wagon road along the [[35th parallel north|35th Parallel]]. His secondary orders were to test the feasibility of the use of [[U.S. Camel Corps|camels as pack animals in the southwestern desert]]. This road became part of US&nbsp;66.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Weiser |first=Kathy |year=2014 |title=Beale's Wagon Road from New Mexico to California |url=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-bealeroad.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129065152/http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-bealeroad.html |archive-date=November 29, 2014 |access-date=November 18, 2014 |website=Legends of America}}</ref>

Parts of the original Route 66 from 1913, prior to its official naming and commissioning, can still be seen north of the [[Cajon Pass]]. The paved road becomes a dirt road, south of Cajon, which was also the original Route 66.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cajon Pass |url=http://www.backroadswest.com/MonthTrips/BreezeCajon.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150708125234/http://www.backroadswest.com/MonthTrips/BreezeCajon.htm |archive-date=July 8, 2015 |access-date=March 29, 2016 |website=BackRoadsWest.com}}</ref>

Before a nationwide network of numbered highways was adopted by the states, [[auto trail]]s were marked by private organizations. The route that became US&nbsp;66 was covered by three highways:
* The Lone Star Route passed through [[St. Louis]] on its way from [[Chicago]] to [[Cameron, Louisiana]] (although US&nbsp;66 would take a shorter route through [[Bloomington, Illinois|Bloomington]] rather than [[Peoria, Illinois|Peoria]]).
* The transcontinental [[National Old Trails Road]] led via St. Louis to [[Los Angeles]], but was not followed until [[New Mexico]]. Instead, US&nbsp;66 used one of the main routes of the [[Ozark Trail (auto trail)|Ozark Trails]] system,<ref>{{Cite map |last=Old Spanish Trail Association |title=Map of the Ozark Trails |publisher=Old Spanish Trail Association |url=http://www.drivetheost.com/ozarkmap.html |access-date=April 15, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120416010408/http://www.drivetheost.com/ozarkmap.html |archive-date=April 16, 2012 |url-status=live}}{{full citation needed|date= June 2016 }}</ref> which ended at the National Old Trails Road just south of [[Las Vegas, New Mexico]]. Again, a shorter route was taken, here following the Postal Highway between [[Oklahoma City, Oklahoma|Oklahoma City]] and [[Amarillo, Texas|Amarillo]].
* The National Old Trails Road became the rest of the route to Los Angeles.<ref name="1926 Rand McNally">{{Cite map |last=Rand McNally |title=Auto Road Atlas |year=1926 |publisher=Rand McNally |place=Chicago |via=Broer Maps Online |url=http://www.broermapsonline.org/members/ |access-date=April 15, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120427035609/http://www.broermapsonline.org/members/ |archive-date=April 27, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Legislation for public highways first appeared in 1916, with revisions in 1921, but the government did not execute a national highway construction plan until Congress enacted an even more comprehensive version of the act in 1925. The original inspiration for a road between Chicago and Los Angeles was planned by entrepreneurs [[Cyrus Avery]] of [[Tulsa, Oklahoma]], and John Woodruff of [[Springfield, Missouri]], who lobbied the [[American Association of State Highway Officials]] (AASHO)<!--the name didn't change until 1973--> for the creation of a route following the 1925 plans.<ref name="tremeear-10">*{{Cite book |last=Tremeear |first=Janice |title=Illinois' Haunted Route 66 |publisher=History Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-626-19252-2 |page=10}}</ref>

From the outset, public road planners intended US&nbsp;66 to connect the main streets of rural and urban communities along its course for the most practical of reasons: Most small towns had no prior access to a major national thoroughfare.