The Marshall Pass Ski Course, Continental Divide Sign, and "The Other" Ski Train
A photograph of the Marshall Pass Continental Divide sign from 1969 was cataloged into the archives this week. The sign pictured here is unlike any of the other Continental Divide signs in CO that I have seen from this era. Old photographs of this sign are extremely rare compared to other mountain passes like Loveland or Berthoud.
See the full collection of Continental Divide sign images by clicking here.
The Marshall Pass Ski Course and the 75-Cent Train Ride
The Salida Ski Club set up a ski train in cooperation with the D&RG Railroad in 1937. The train hustled skiers from Salida to the Shawano stop on Marshall Pass for a few years. A shuttle train ran every 45 minutes to bring skiers back to the top of the hill for each run.
The building shown in the photo below is the section house, which the railroad agreed to let skiers use.
Trails were cut, and a ski school was even established. A grand opening (almost certainly pictured above) was held in February 1938, in which the ski train brought 600+ people to the pass in a single weekend.
A ski tow was added to nearby Monarch Pass in 1939, and this would ultimately become the site of the ski area that was envisioned for Marshall Pass (ref). The train did continue to run, allowing skiers a choice between the two.
Frank Ashley and Thor Groswold are pictured on Marshall Pass in the photograph below. Both men are inductees in the Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame. Groswold began winning ski races in the 1920s, and retired from his position as Senior Vice President of the Winter Park Ski Resort in 1987. Ashley raced during the 1930s and went on to become General Manager of the Aspen Ski Corporation.
1950s Milner Pass Kodachrome Slides
These slides were photographed on the light table this week so that images of the front and back could be added to the archives. The slide from 1952 is important for establishing a date range that can be used for other images of this sign.
The map below comes from the Milner Pass page on the main Coloradotopia website.
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