The Pass of the North

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it — the story of the Pass of the North, right here in El Paso County. Now, if you want to understand why this particular gap in the mountains matters, you've got to think about the whole sweep of North America and ask yourself: where do you cross the Rockies without freezing to death in the process? The answer, it turns out, has been the same for a very, very long time.

This is the northernmost Rocky Mountain pass that stays snow-free throughout the year. Every season. Rain or shine.

That one fact alone made this corridor one of the great trade and travel arteries on the continent — and it drew people to it long before anyone was writing any of it down. Indians were using this pass long before any European set eyes on it. Then, somewhere around 1536, a Spaniard named Cabeza de Vaca crossed through — thought to be the first white man in the area.

Think on that for a moment. Fifteen thirty-six. That's more than eighty years before the Mayflower ever left port, and here's a man moving through this desert corridor.

But Cabeza de Vaca was just the beginning. In 1598, Juan de Oñate came through — and he didn't come light. Oñate brought the first cattle into what is now the United States right through this pass.

The first. Whatever you think about Texas beef culture, whatever you think about ranching and cattle drives and all the legend that grew up around them, it had to start somewhere, and the marker says it started coming through here. Then jump ahead to 1849.

The California gold rush hit, and suddenly every restless soul with a pan and a prayer needed a route west. This pass was heavily traveled during those frantic years — people pouring through, chasing the dream. And when the gold rush fever cooled, the pass didn't slow down.

Important stage lines crossed the Rockies here. Then came the railroads, cutting iron trails right through the same ancient corridor that Indians walked and Oñate's cattle plodded. And today?

Today the pass lies on one of three major travel routes across the entire continent. Three. Out of a whole country full of highways and interstates, this old snow-free gap is still one of the three big ways you get from one side of America to the other.

Some places earn their reputation and then fade. The Pass of the North just keeps showing up — same gap in the mountains, same reason people keep choosing it. It never had to change.

The continent just kept needing it.

What the marker says

Historically a major trade and travel artery for North America because it is the northernmost Rocky Mountain pass that stays snow-free throughout the year. Indians used pass long before Spaniard Cabeza de Vaca, thought to be first white man in area, crossed it about 1536. Juan de Onate brought first cattle into U.S. through the pass in 1598. Route was heavily traveled during California gold rush, 1849, and in later years important stage lines and railroads crossed Rockies here. Today the pass lies on one of three major travel routes across the continent. (1968)