For many years, the northernmost road over Wyoming's Big Horn Mountains was commonly known as the Dayton-Kane Road, connecting the towns of Dayton and Kane on opposite sides of the mountain, though Kane now lies beneath the waters of Big Horn Lake. The first access up the east side of the Big Horns had been trails used in the 1890s to haul mining equipment from the railhead at Gillette to the Fortunatus gold mine near Bald Mountain, but that route was eventually abandoned because of its steep grades and sharp curves. In 1912, construction began on an improved route on the Dayton side, while settlers in the Big Horn Basin at about the same time carved out the beginnings of the first road on the west side to carry salt to summer pastures, giving it the name "Salt" road; the original route was described as a wagon track of extreme steepness and sharp turns. In 1922, preliminary plans called for building 148 miles of road from Sheridan to Greybull via Bald Mountain, then to Lovell and Greybull. Construction began on the east side and moved westward from Dayton, and 4.6 miles were completed in November 1924. A series of construction projects followed until the road was mostly completed in the mid-1930s, with a width ranging from 10 to 24 feet depending on topography. Much of the road was privately financed, with funding and labor coming from the timber industry, popular subscription, and finally the Bureau of Public Roads and the Wyoming Highway Department. It was added to the state highway system in 1931 and was eventually asphalt paved by about 1939. For the next 25 years, work was limited to maintenance and occasional widening until reconstruction began in earnest in 1964.