Loveland Pass Continental Divide Sign Photograph #CL-930C
Brief Description
A broken sign is pictured here at the top of Loveland Pass.
Info
- Date: c. 1950-1952
- Photographer: Unknown
- Medium: Original Photograph
- Size: 3.5" x 2.5"
- ID: CL-930C
- Acquisition Date: August 2024
- Repository: Coloradotopia Archives
Scanned with basic cropping, no enhancements.
Image use restricted.
Image Dating Comments
Update: The archives now contain a dated photo of this sign from 1950, so this image can be dated to c. 1950-1952.
The photograph was taken after CL-TA1948 (captured in 1948). The $25 reward placard at the bottom is the same, with no repainting of the placard between photographs. However, the sign appears to have been repainted between the photographs.
The dirt in the background looks like it has been graded down since the photo from 1948 was captured.
The sign was replaced by October 1952 with a new sign that had two legs instead of a single mast.
Full Scan
Comments & Discussion
The broken corner of the sign is likely one of the primary reasons that it was replaced in the time following when photograph was captured. The next set of signs can be seen on this slide.
This wasn’t the last sign to be destroyed on this side of the highway here. Another sign appears to have been broken during the winter of 1965-1966. Between 2001 and 2007, another sign took repeated damage, and the left half was almost entirely destroyed by the time that it was replaced.
Most of the damage was likely due to snowplow activity. The Continental Divide sign location would be moved to the other side of the road by January of 2007, and the newest sign has survived there ever since.
Condition, Aging & Authenticity: The main surface area of the front has little/no cracking or spidering, and still has nice glossiness upon arrival into the archives. All 4 corners have some level of creasing or surface degradation. There is a single brown spot due to aging on the backside.
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