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.
About the Coloradotopia Archives. The Coloradotopia archives hold a large collection of historical images and items that document Colorado’s automobile 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.
- Photographer: Harold Sanborn
- Archive ID: CRA-W-846
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.
- Archive ID: CRA-44IND
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.
- Archive ID: CRA-B01
c. 1952 or Earlier
This image was scanned from an unused postcard, and it shows the Rabbit Ears Pass signs after a fresh snowfall.
- Photographer: Chas E. Grover
- Archive ID: CRA-GR1
c. 1952 or Earlier
This image includes the traveler’s registration box that was seen here during the early 1950s.
- Photographer: Harold Sanborn
- Archive ID: CRA-W-3528
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.
- Archive ID: CRA-RU99
1952
A group is seen reading the historical plaque in 1952, while the empty traveler registration box still remains here.
- Archive ID: CRA-525
1953
This slide from the archive shows the newly repainted Continental Divide sign in 1953.
- Archive ID: CRA-5318
1953
This slide is an unidentical twin of previous slide above. The images were captured a few moments apart.
- Archive ID: CRA-5321
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.
- Archive ID: CRA-S20
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.
- Archive ID: CRA-G6
1961
This image is scanned from a Kodachrome slide in the archive, and it shows the top of Rabbit Ears Pass in 1961.
- Archive ID: CRA-145
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.
- Archive ID: CRA-9
2008
This image from 2008 exists in digital form only. There is no physical copy.
- Photographer: AdamTheBruce
- Archive ID: CRA-611