Today, part-time Summit County residents from all over the United States and the world fly into Denver International Airport, Colorado Springs Airport or Eagle County Regional Airport to be able to spend even one week in their vacation homes in Breckenridge, Keystone, or in Park County, Colorado. They join others from Denver and the Front Range who own vacation real estate in Summit and Park counties. How perfect to be able to easily hop into an SUV, onto Interstate 70, and whiz through the Eisenhower Tunnel for a weekend on the slopes? Explorers, settlers, prospectors, and miners, however, didn’t have it so easy.
In fact, nine of the eleven mountain passes used 150 years ago ascended the Continental Divide. Crossing the Boreas Pass at 11,482 feet from Breckenridge real estate to Como in Park County meant tackling steep grades, deep snow and drifts. (By the way, the Boreas Pass was also historically referred to as Breckenridge Pass, Hamilton Pass, and Tarryall Pass.) French Pass at 12,057 connects French Gulch to Tarryall in Park County. Travel from Breckenridge over the Divide to Park County real estate in Alma and Fairplay meant crossing the Hossier Pass at 11,541 feet. Other well-known routes traversed the heights of the Georgia, Argentine, Webster, Fremont, Grizzly, Loveland, Ute, and Vail passes.
Following in the tracks of migrating buffalo, game, and Ute Indians, people traveling in Summit County in the 1800s faced daunting travel prospects. Oxen, burros, and mares powered both passenger and freight wagons and stagecoaches. Most of the overworked animals carried heavy and cumbersome packs.
Transporting heavy gold and silver ores to mills was not only a difficult proposition but it was extremely dangerous and expensive. Wagon rates ran $18-29 per ton, double during the winters. Entrepreneurs created toll roads to get a piece of the market. Many of the early dirt roads were graded with teams of horses that predated the modern tractor, improving conditions and passage for wagons. Problems caused by extreme weather such as potholes and mud continued to plague the transportation routes.
Think of riding along in a wagon being pulled by an animal that loses its footing and throws you over a cliff. How about trusting your life to an ox or mule that walks right into a snow drift and sinks? As more reliable narrow-gauge locomotives took over in 1882—at least they kept their wheels in the grooves of the tracks—the wagons and pack animals were naturally phased out. Even so, the prospect of mounting the Continental Divide during snowstorms, thunderstorms, and forest fires left us many tales of hardship.
