Blue Mesa Summit (elevation ) is a mountain pass in

Gunnison County Gunnison County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,918. The county seat is Gunnison. The county was named for John W. Gunnison, a United States Army officer and captain in the Army ...

of west-central

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. The pass is traversed by

U.S. Route 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlanti ...

and divides the watersheds of Little Cimarron River to the west and Blue Creek to the east.

History

Blue Mesa Summit had long been used by Utes, trappers, and explorers who were traveling between the Gunnison Valley to the east and the

Uncompahgre Valley The Uncompahgre Valley is an agricultural valley of the Uncompahgre River around the town of Montrose in the western part of the U.S. state of Colorado. The valley is bounded to the south and east by the San Juan Mountains and to the west by t ...

to the west. By the mid-1870s, mining in the San Juan Mountains resulted in the construction of trails and wagon roads connecting the increasing number of new mining camps and growing towns. Road builder

Otto Mears Otto Mears (May 3, 1840 – June 24, 1931) was a famous Colorado railroad builder and entrepreneur who played a major role in the early development of southwestern Colorado. Mears was known as the "Pathfinder of the San Juans" because of hi ...

had constructed the Saguache and San Juan Toll Road connecting the towns of Saguache and Lake City in 1874. Needed was a road connecting this route to the mining town of Ouray to the west. Mears’ new Lake Fork and Uncompahgre Toll Road was opened in 1878, and it followed the established trail over Blue Mesa Summit. In the 1930s, the newly designated

was routed over Blue Mesa Summit and the location follows closely the historic toll road over the pass.

References

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External links

Blue Mesa Summit
passbagger.org Mountain passes of Colorado Landforms of Gunnison County, Colorado U.S. Route 50 Transportation in Gunnison County, Colorado