paving work had been completed long before the Ehrenberg–Duncan route had been designated as part of US 70. On January 24, 1938, the entirety of US 66 between Los Angeles and Chicago was designated as the Will Rogers Memorial Highway by the U.S. Highway 66 Association. US 66 also played a large role during the Dust Bowl era of the Great Depression. Refugees seeking a better life from drought and impoverished areas of the Great Plains states, often referred to as "Okies" (which started an insulting term used by long time California residents), extensively used US 66 as a means of escaping the heavily affected areas, looking for a better life in California. Western Arizona in particular provided a great obstacle for refugees traveling down US 66 to California: they would often have trouble crossing the Black Mountains on US 66 over Sitgreaves Pass. Many of their trucks would end up wrecked at the bottom of the mountain slopes next to the highway due to failed axle bearings. Refugee drivers were among the earliest US 66 travelers to hire locals to drive their often overloaded vehicles over the pass for them. The grades on this US 66 would sometimes pose a large enough challenge to these vehicles that driving the trucks in reverse over the pass was often necessary. After reaching the other side of the pass, the refugees would coast their vehicles down the other side to save gas. If the refugees needed gas, a man named Ed Edgerton ran a gas station complex known as "Ed's Camp" at the top of the pass. Most of the time, Edgerton was willing to barter with the refugees if they had little or no money. Sometimes, the refugees would trade or pawn valuable possessions to Edgerton for gas. Other times, Edgerton would have them work jobs at his station to earn their gas. Upon reaching the other side, the refugees would often establish camps along the Colorado River near Topock and Needles on the California side before continuing their journey. The rest of the route through Arizona was also difficult for refugees, due to the extremes of the desert heat during summertime. Famed author John Steinbeck would later go on to describe some of these experiences in his novel, The Grapes of Wrath. Part of the novel detailed the experiences of the Joad family, a fictional refugee family from Oklahoma taking