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Rabbit Ears Pass Continental Divide Sign Archive

This page documents the Continental Divide signs from different eras on Rabbit Ears Pass, and provides a resource for dating images of these signs. The Rabbit Ears Pass archive is a part of the larger Coloradotopia archive project.

Rabbit Ears Pass, 1944

c. 1952 or earlier

c. 1952 or earlier

c. 1952 or earlier

c. 1953 or later

c. 1954 or later

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.

c. 1930s

A brass historical marker was added to this boulder in 1929, and pictured later here in a postcard by Harold Sanborn.

1944

An Indian motorcycle is shown next to the Rabbit Ears Pass sign. The photograph was captured by a military serviceman while on a furlough trip in 1944.

c. Late 1940s

Pacific Ocean to the left and Atlantic to the right… this is one of two pictures in the archive that shows this sign on the southern side of the highway during the 1940s.

c. 1952 or Earlier

This image was scanned from an unused postcard, and it shows the Rabbit Ears Pass signs after a fresh snowfall.

c. 1952 or Earlier

This image includes the traveler’s registration box that was seen here during the early 1950s.

c. 1952 or Earlier

The Continental Divide sign can be seen covered in graffiti here, which may be one of the reasons that this sign was repainted in 1953.

1952

A group is seen reading the historical plaque in 1952, while the empty traveler registration box still remains here.

1953

This slide from the archive shows the newly repainted Continental Divide sign in 1953.

1953

This slide is an unidentical twin of previous slide above. The images were captured a few moments apart.

c. 1953 or Later

This undated image is scanned from a Kodachrome slide. It was likely captured shortly after the sign was repainted in 1953.

c. 1954 or Later

A spring snowpack, the graffiti, and text on the Continental Divide sign allow this image to be dated to 1954 or later.

1961

This image is scanned from a Kodachrome slide in the archive, and it shows the top of Rabbit Ears Pass in 1961.

c. 1961 or Later

This is another spring season photograph of the signs on Rabbit Ears Pass. That is a 1961 Mercury Comet pictured in the foreground.

2008

This image from 2008 exists in digital form only. There is no physical copy.

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