THE construction of the Benguet Road, later named after Colonel Lyman W. V. Kennon, was initially conceived to provide access to the temperate climate of Baguio. Described as a fine, rolling grassy country at an elevation of 5,000 feet above sea level, Baguio answered the need for a summer capital and a place where bone-weary and wounded American Soldiers could recuperate. Before the coming of the Americans, it took a 24-hour boat ride from Manila to San Fernando, La Union and a 3-day ride on horseback over steep mountain trails to reach the area.
As mine prospecting lured more American ex-soldiers, civilians, and businessmen to Baguio, it became imperative that a more expeditious and convenient means of access be provided. The marvel that was the Benguet Road was conceived and planned by competent engineers and built by thousands of laborers. Governor William Howard Taft, Commissioners W. Cameron Forbes, Dean Worcester, Luke Wright, and Daniel Burnham participated in the conceptualization and execution of the plan for the development of Baguio.
The Philippine Commission, determined to see the project through to completion, approved a resolution designating Baguio as "the summer capital of the archipelago," and put Colonel Lyman W. V. Kennon in charge of the project to build the 40-kilometer winding road which bears his name.
Earlier efforts to establish good transport connections with Baguio had failed. For instance, the project of Captain C. E. Mead of the 36th US Volunteer Infantry to construct a wagon road from Pozorrubio, Pangasinan to Baguio through the Bued River, remained a pipe dream despite a $75,000 appropriation from the Philippine Commission; the road did not even reach the foothills to the north. Another appropriation of $300,000 given to another project director, N. M. Holmes, also ended in frustration as the 175 men assigned to work felt that the job would take a lifetime, typhoons and cholera being their chief adversaries.
A native of Rhode Island, Colonel Kennon had extensive experience directing engineering projects in Cuba. But the enormity of his task in the Philippines was without precedent. It involved transporting supplies by slow stages from camp to camp, along perilous trails which ascended and descended precipitous canyon walls and cliffs, using whichever ropes and ladders were necessary. The river at low tide was forded; at high water, rude bridges or logs were used. A man’s life depended on sureness of foot and coolness of head.
After the completion of the Benguet Road in 1905, Daniel Burnham supervised the development of Baguio - its metamorphosis from a cluster of grassy, old settlements to a budding metropolis, a "little America" in the wilderness. Burnham had been one of the consulting engineers of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1980 and the architect of some of America’s important buildings, including the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. His friend, Commissioner W. Cameron Forbes, fired him up with the idea of building a city in Benguet, and under his expert direction, Baguio became a model city amid the sprawling mountain ranges.
In compliance with Act No. 1225, a mule pack train became operational towards the end of 1905 and the Benguet Road was made negotiable by wagon traffic as far as Camp 4. In another directive on 14 November 1904, the Philippine Commission authorized the establishment of a stage line between Dagupan and Baguio. Thus, between 1905 and 1939 the transport system to Baguio leap-frogged from mule pack to motor car (used for postal service) and from that to the Benguet Auto Line. This company operated as a separate company until 1939 when it merged with the Manila Railroad Company since the Baguio route was served by both rail and motor transportation.
Following a disastrous flood which damaged the Benguet Road in 1911, the need for an alternative route to Baguio led to the launching of the Naguilian road project. Roads that led directly to the mines were also built, following the steep, slippery, dangerous, and obscure trails built centuries earlier by the Igorots. One such long-winding trail which later widened into a road led to the Mankayan mines owned by Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company. Laid out by Chinese workers during the Spanish rule, it started from Candon, Ilocos Sur, and led to Bessang Pass and on to Mankayan. Alternative routes to Lepanto mines were built linking Mankayan to Baguio. Such was the pattern of road building initiated by the mining companies on the periphery of Baguio. Only much later, during the 1930s did plane travel come to the region when the Philippine Aerial Taxi operated the hour-long Manila-Baguio route trip daily the whole year round. The Baguio mining companies preferred to send their gold bullion to Manila by air instead of by parcel post.
