Starting Up the Newsletter & Cataloging the Third of Three Berthoud Pass Photographs from 1921
This is the third of three photos in this lot of Continental Divide sign photographs from 1921.
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- Aaron
On with the show…
This photograph (CB-1921-PAL4) was captured on top of Berthoud Pass in 1921. It comes from a small album lot that contains four other photographs, two of which also show this sign during the same trip. Other photographs from the lot have the date of July 3rd, 1921, written in the same handwriting.
Around 1925, a new sign was added on the other side of the highway, in front of the new Berthoud Pass Inn that was built that year. That sign was not added by the US Forest Service like this one, but instead, by the Bureau of Public Roads. That was the predecessor to the Federal Highway Administration. See that sign here.
The Travelers Registration Boxes
The image also shows a travelers registration box that was added by the US Forest Service. These boxes were not uncommon in Colorado during this era, but they were not found on all of the major the mountain passes either.
I have seen photographs from as late as 1935 showing boxes like this on Berthoud Pass. The boxes would seem to go away for a period of time after that, but they would return on other passes by the very early 1950s. A newer version of the boxes could be seen next to the Continental Divide signs on Monarch Pass and Rabbit Ears Pass in the early 50s.
The image from Monarch Pass directly above originates from a postcard by Glenn L. Gebhardt. That one has not yet been entered into the archives, but it’s twin, CM-M-1218 has.
Click on the image at the top of this newsletter or below in order to see the highest resolution scan of this Berthoud Pass photograph. This version is exclusive to the newsletter and cannot be found anywhere else on the website.
See more details, discussion, and scanned images of this photograph in the archives here.