Monarch Pass is one of the great and most unique mountain passes crossing the Continental Divide in the United States. The pass is 11,312 feet high and divides the waters of the South Arkansas River on the East Slope with Agate Creek on the Western Slope. What makes it unique is that there were three different Monarch passes in history.
Following silver discoveries up the South Arkansas drainage in 1879 a toll road was built to the town of Monarch with the toll gate below at Maysville. Mule wagons and stagecoaches used that road which eventually got the name Old, Old Monarch after the Monarch Mine. The rough dirt road crossed the Divide at 11,522 feet, ran through the current Monarch Ski Area and then descended into Tomichi Creek and crossed Black Sage Pass at 9,745 feet into Gunnison.
The Forest Service made a study of traffic over the pass and found that in July of 1917, 440 autos, 11 motorcycles, 10 wagons, three horseback rides and seven walkers crossed the pass for a total of 1,983 people. From July 1 to Oct. 26, 1920, 10,856 people crossed Monarch Pass with 1,000 camping out in Monarch Park
The primitive wagon road of Old, Old Monarch was replaced by a more modern road in 1921 called Old Monarch Pass. Work went on from 1919 to September of 1921 when the new road opened. The new 22 mile road cost $10,000 a mile. Old Monarch was a little east of Old, Old Monarch Pass and dropped to Tomichi Creek three miles above Sargents and then followed the creek to Gunnison. Old Monarch Pass was closed in the winter usually from Nov. 20 June 1.
The dirt road of Old Monarch Pass was replaced by the current Monarch Pass in 1939. There was a major controversy over whether Marshall Pass at 10,856 feet or Monarch should be used to cross the Continental Divide. Marshall Pass was 500 feet lower and the Denver and Rio Grande used it, but it also had many sharp switchbacks. Monarch, which was also called Agate Pass, was chosen by State Highway Commissioner Charlie Vail who angered locals by naming the pass after himself, and putting a sign, “Vail Pass” on top of the Divide. Upset locals threw the sign into a ditch several times and then put their own sign up, adding an “S” to Vail and dropping the “P” on pass to read “Vail’s Ass.” The arrogant Vail finally gave up and the name Monarch was used as it always had. Vail, however, did get his name on the pass from Copper Mountain to the Vail Ski Area later. Two things were unique about the new pass - it was open year round and it was paved.
Highway 50 cross Monarch Pass - it runs 3,073 miles from Ocean City, MD., to Sacramento, Calif., one of the great interstate highways of the nation. It is called the “Rainbow Route” for how it arches over the mountains or perhaps for the rainbow trout of the region. The highway is also referred to as “the backbone of America.” An early advertisement declared, “Did you hear? It’s U.S. 50 any day of the year.” An average of 3,000 cars and trucks crossed Monarch Pass daily in 2019 - about a million per year. So, in our own backyard, one of the great crossings of the Continental Divide, majestic Monarch Pass.
-Duane Vandenbusche
BROUGHT TO YOU THIS WEEK BY: GUNNISON COUNTRY TIMES
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