Charles Bigelow scrapbooks

Collection

Identifier: WASH-056

Scope and Contents

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This collection contains two original scrapbooks of newspaper clippings from 1907-1932 that were assembled by Bigelow through the early part of the twentieth century. There is also a miscellaneous newspaper folder with articles from 1877-1998. The majority of the newspaper articles document the road routes and scenery while traveling through California, Arizona, and Utah. The scrapbooks also document the Arrowhead Trail Highway that Bigelow is credited with founding.

The newspaper articles in the scrapbooks include Los Angeles and San Francisco, California; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Phoenix, Arizona newspapers, among others. There are approximately 70 pages in each scrapbook; most have clippings pasted to both sides of each page. The pages are fragile, deteriorating and discolored. There is a large folder that accompanies each original scrapbook which contains a photocopy of each page in a large format that is approximately the same size as the original. The original scrapbooks were bound together on the left side of the page with ribbon. There are about 12 loose pages at the beginning, as the rest of the pages are still somewhat attached to the binding.

Bigelow gave this collection to Ralph Hafen and Ellis Pickett in St. George, Utah and they donated it to Utah Tech University.

Dates

Creation: 1908 - 1932

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open and freely available to researchers during Special Collections hours or by appointment. Researchers must complete an Application for Use and show a photo ID prior to accessing materials.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright restrictions may apply. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be obtained from the Special Collections and Archives.

Biographical / Historical

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Charles Bigelow was born August 26, 1872 in Kilbourne, Mason County, Illinois. He married Harriet Estelle Ingraham on March 25, 1903. Harriet was born on October 16, 1877 in Westchester, Porter County, Indiana. He moved to Southern California with his wife in the early 1900s to become a race car driver.

Bigelow was a travel writer and popularized the first road between Los Angeles (L.A.), California and Salt Lake City, Utah, giving it the name of The Arrowhead Trail. The road is now known as Interstate 15. He spent a lot of time and money making his dream of the Arrowhead Trail become a reality with his scouting, surveying, and construction work. The Arrowhead Trail retraced the old Mormon Trail and was built in various stages around 1910. It covered a vast stretch of mountain and desert country. The route made it possible for tourists to visit parts of Utah and Nevada that were not previously accessible because of bad road conditions. Between 1915-1916, he drove the entire route many times in his twin-six Packard car he named “Cactus Kate" to publicize its viability.

Bigelow was a desert road race car driver. He helped locate road race routes and raced in several races during the early part of the 1900s. Automobile companies sponsored Bigelow and gave him an automobile to promote his touring and racing. Bigelow raced in the 1908 L.A. to Phx. (Phoenix), 1909 Corona, 1910 L.A. to Phx., Santa Monica, 1911 Panama Pacific, Indy 500, and L.A. to Phx. In June 1917, he set the record between Salt Lake City, Utah and Los Angeles, California in an Oldsmobile. He was the earliest born driver to have raced in any Indy 500.

Bigelow wrote and published more than 100 articles in national newspapers, such as the Los Angeles Times and San Fransico Examiner, touting Utah scenery, and extolling the value of tourism and good roads throughout the southwest United States. He is noted in the newspaper articles as the Secretary Treasurer of the Arrowhead Trail Association, member of the original scouting party, trail maker, road expert, and the Utah District Highway road and mining engineer.

Bigelow died on June 8, 1958 in Los Angeles, California. His wife, Harriet died on February 2, 1963. They were both buried in the St. George, Utah City Cemetery.

Full Extent

4 Linear Feet (2 large gray oversize boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Metadata Rights Declarations

License: This record is made available under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Creative Commons license.

Additional Description

Abstract

The Charles Bigelow scrapbooks consists of Charles Bigelow’s newspaper clippings from 1907-1932. The newspapers include Los Angeles and San Francisco, California; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Phoenix, Arizona papers, among others. Many of the articles are written by Bigelow extolling the value of tourism and good roads throughout the southwest United States.

Arrangement

The Charles Bigelow Scrapbook is arranged in two oversize boxes. Box 1 contains 3 folders. 1. Original Bigelow Scrapbook, 1908-1932. 2. Photocopy of Scrapbook, pages 1-40, 42-57, 60-68. 3. Misc. newspapers, 1877-1998.

Box 2 contains 2 folders. 1. Original Bigelow Scrapbook, 1907-1931. 2. Photocopy of Scrapbook, pages 1-7, 58-66.

The page number is noted at the top of each page, with the front page one number and the back page the next number. The numbering of pages is different from Lisa-Michelle Church’s notes, where she numbered the front and back page as one page.