By Duane Vandenbusche Dave Wood was tired. In 1877, the great freighter of Western Colorado and his 50-man crew had built the first rough road into Taylor Park and Gunnison County, one year after Colorado became a state. Trails existed from the Arkansas River on the Eastern Slope to Taylor Park on the Western Slope, but this was the first …
Letter from Bill Perry
Cottonwood Pass – November 1994 – Colorado Central Magazine
Editors:
Thanks for featuring the Cottonwood Pass dilemma in the October issue of Colorado Central Magazine. Your letter from the editor on this controversy was dead on target; paving isn’t the issue!
Letter from Eleanor Harrington
Cottonwood Pass – November 1994 – Colorado Central Magazine
Many thanks for featuring the Cottonwood Pass controversy in your October Issue. The short history was well done and most informative and the contrasting points of view were interesting and entertaining.
Article by Bill Perry
Cottonwood Pass – October 1994 – Colorado Central Magazine
Once again, Gunnison County is trying to profit from others’ efforts to get the western approach to Cottonwood Pass upgraded to a paved surface consistent with its major connecting roads.
Article by Marija B. Vader
Cottonwood Pass – October 1994 – Colorado Central Magazine
“What lasts longer, dirt or pavement?”
-Susan Gore, Taylor Canyon resident
Article by Ed Quillen
Cottonwood Pass – October 1994 – Colorado Central Magazine
As the scars of old routes above timberline clearly demonstrate, 12,126-foot Cottonwood Pass has been in use for many years. Doubtless it was employed for centuries as an Indian trail, since the Utes enjoyed the hot springs on the east side and the hunting on the west side long before white settlement.