SUNNYSIDE, Wash.- Built in the early 1900s, the Yellowstone Trail was the first fully paved road that spanned the entire country. Starting in Plymouth, Massachusetts and ending in Seattle, the route spanned 12 different states.
When the route reaches Spokane, it splits into two. One would continue west through Coulee City and Wenatchee. The other went south and detoured through Walla Walla into the Yakima Valley before reconnecting near Ellensburg.
Now, the history of the Yellowstone Trail is on display in Sunnyside.
“It was a key road in connecting all the small towns,” says Ignacio Ramos. “I just thought it was a great part of Sunnyside’s heritage to display and to bring awareness to the trend of the Yellowstone Trail’s revival and recognition.”
Ramos commissioned a longtime friend in Miguel Cuevas to create a mural of the trail. The Toppenish artist was first approached for a smaller mural that featured silhouettes of the states, but realized how much more he could do.
“He wanted it smaller and wanted just the states in the in the map,” says Cuevas. “But I felt like this right here was really what it is. And I think that that made a big, big difference.”
The final product shows the entire map of the trail, with representations of each state it passes through. In New York, the Statue of Liberty. In Wisconsin, a block of cheese. Washington took more attention with its homegrown roots. The work showing off hops, apples, cherries and Mount Rainier.
South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore is placed right in the center of the map. Cuevas says he’s most proud of how that turned out, and it set the tone for the rest of the artwork.
“Everything was freestyle. Nothing was projected. Nothing was sketched with chalk or anything. Everything was straight put together, straight mental,” says Cuevas.
Sitting on Sixth Street, Ramos will get to see the work every day. He works in and leases the building the mural sits on.
“It cheers me up every time I see it,” says Ramos. “The effort that the artist has put into it. It’s truly his magnum opus.”
The Sunnyside community came out to support Ramos and Cuevas in the grand unveiling. Even with people watching his every move, the muralist added the finishing touches and dotted the trail in front of all.
Now finished with the spray paint mural, the artist is excited to see the reactions from those that drive by the wall close to the city’s downtown area.
“I just hope they break their neck, turning around to see it and they come back by to check it out,” says Cuevas. “The details when you see them up close and personal, to know they were all done with spray paint is amazing.”
Ramos, a history fan that is passionate about the trail, hopes this mural is just the beginning of the Yellowstone Trail’s legacy and serves as an opportunity for people to learn.
“I hope this mural stirs conversation about Sunnyside and the rest of the town where people share a history and have their own history with the towns,” says Ramos.
