Million Dollar Mile, part 1

With the Second World War over, work started on the creation of a 27-mile-long reservoir from Electric City to Coulee City. The old highway ran down the Upper Coulee floor, and a new replacement route would have to be built. To avoid being flooded, the new highway would cling to the southern coulee wall. This road was named Secondary State Highway 2F and ran through several condemned farmyards as it made its way across the coulee.

Just outside Coulee City, the ground at the base of the east wall was unstable due to a series of unpredictable alkali lakes, and 2F was detoured up and across the top of the plateau on an impossible-looking ramp seemingly made of local materials.

At the top of the ramp, the workers leveled the land by creating a deep channel for the cars to pass through before reaching the summit of the mesa. From there, you can drive along the edge of a 600-foot drop into the man-made lake before descending the other side with a spectacular view of Steamboat Rock.

The stretch of highway became known as the Million Dollar Mile, and the highway became State Route 155.

John M. Kemble, Them Dam Writers online 2020