1942 Loveland Pass Continental Divide Sign Photograph #LC-DG-FSA-8D35749
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Brief Description
This digital image is sourced from a nitrate black and white negative that is preserved in the Library of Congress. This image, likely captured in 1942, features a Continental Divide sign erected by the US Forest Service. It is the first of approximately 10 signs that would eventually exist on Loveland Pass between the 1930s and the 2020s.
Info
- Date: Circa 1942
- Photographer: Andreas Feininger
- Medium: Digital Copy + Nitrate Negative
- ID: LC-DG-FSA-8D35749
- Repository: Library of Congress
The digital file was created by the Library of Congress. The zoomed window in the upper right was added to the featured version of the image by Coloradotopia.
No known restrictions.
Image Dating Comments
This photo was likely captured sometime in 1942.
This photo has been dated by the Library of Congress with the label ‘created/published’ in November 1942. This date may simply be when it finally surfaced onto the radar or was published, and there is a possibility that the photo could have been taken prior to this.
The sign was likely erected sometime during the second half of 1932 or later. This is when an improved dirt highway was completed over the pass. This included large amounts of grading. The berm where this sign was located had not been fully cut and graded to this state yet in the 1920s.
Original Scan
Comments & Discussion
This sign has acquired some obvious weathering at the time of this photo. It was likely erected in the 1930s after the road was rebuilt.
New signs would be added in front of this sign by the highway department in the coming years, but this sign would remain in place. By the early 1950s, the sign on this post had been replaced, but the same post stayed here and was still being used. The sign that was added to this post would point to Arapahoe Basin instead.
It’s a shame that the top of the pass was overwhelmed with clouds on the day that this photo was taken. On a sunny day, you would see the Continental Divide’s ridgeline rising up behind this sign to almost 13,000′.
This image above has been zoomed in again and slightly enhanced. Notice that the sign sits in a notched part of the sign post. The sign is set-in to be nearly flush with the post on the top and bottom of the sign. This same inset area can be seen in later photos where the post is shown, and this helps to identify this as the same sign post.
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About the Coloradotopia Archives. The Coloradotopia archives hold a large collection of historical images that document Colorado’s auto history in the mountains. You can read more about the Coloradotopia archive project here.
