Historic west endpoints of US highway 26

Photo credits: Tom Grier; me

Originally the west end of US 26 was at its junction with the now-defunct US 185, at a place known as Dwyer Junction WY. This is about 10 miles west of Guernsey, and about a mile east of US 26's junction with I-25 (exit 92). For the most part, US 185 followed what is now WY hwy. 320 north from Wheatland. However, just shy of the junction with US 26, today's WY 320 veers to the northeast. But US 185 continued on a northwesterly angle, aligning with Pepper Road, which is still drivable north of US 26. This first photo is looking north on historic US 185:

me, Mar. 2004

Behind the camera, this road now dead-ends (but it used to connect with WY 320). Ahead you can see how it's aligned with (but no longer directly connects with) Pepper Rd. This used to be US 185 (notice the raised roadbed). The suv has just reached the historic west end of US 26, and is turning north on old US 185. (Today Pepper Rd. connects with I-25 at exit 94.)

Below we're looking west on US 26 at the junction with WY 320:

me, Mar. 2004

Today you'd have to turn there if you wanted to retrace US 185 southbound. But when that highway actually ran through here, its alignment was up ahead, near the red and white barn in the distance. The shot below shows where US 26 actually would've ended at US 185:

me, Mar. 2004

Straight ahead is the I-25 interchange, and in the distance you can see the Laramie Mountains.

In 1948 the US 26 designation was extended to Alpine WY. This extension added over 400 miles to the length of US 26, but only 58 of those miles were along highways that hadn't already been signed as other US routes (another example of Wyoming's penchant for co-signing US routes for unusually long distances). The photo below is was taken from westbound US 26 / southbound US 89:

Grier, Aug. 2006

Today the routes divide here, but this used to be the west end of US 26. The green sign in the distance is shown close-up below:

Grier, Aug. 2006

The Idaho line is only about two miles to the right. Coming from Idaho on eastbound US 26, the junction is signed thus:

Grier, Aug. 2006

To the left was once the west beginning of US 26. Heading the opposite direction (north on US 89), we encounter this sign:

Grier, Aug. 2006

US 26 began to the right. A few years later US 26 was extended west again, this time to Idaho Falls - you can view photos from there on this page. The following year (1952) the west end of US 26 was extended to Astoria OR; photos from there can be found on this page. It was 2003 when US 26 was truncated to its current terminus at Cannon Beach Juntion - you can view photos from there on my main US 26 page.