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Automobile History of Ute Pass and Highway 24 - Part 2
- Steve Plutt
- Aug 31
- 12 min read
By Steve Plutt © 1923
Part 2: The Road is Rebuilt
In mid-August of 1930, surveying took place from Manitou to Cascade for a spring of 1931 major reconstruction of Ute Pass. The idea this time was to widen the highway, reduce the grades and eliminate the sharper curves. It was also planned to lay a ten-foot-wide lane of “rough” concrete next to the road edge to help prevent slide offs. It was predicted that this piece of highway work would be quite difficult as there was no way to detour traffic and the thought was they would have to close Ute Pass during construction. The finished construction project, according to the August 18, 1930 Gazette, would be a thirty-foot-wide boulevard from Manitou to Cascade. The five men that were doing the surveying work often complained about having narrow escapes from injury due to speeders zooming past their work area.
After many delays and complaints to the Governor, the Ute Pass widening project finally started on November 5, 1931. The low bid of $169,181 was given by the Glesson & Hamilton Company of Denver which did not include the cost of a new Rainbow Falls bridge. This project would employ about 200 men and the road would now be 36 feet wide. According to area newspapers, work started on November 6, 1931.
Within the first days of starting, the contractor had one huge obstacle: spectators! During construction, they totally closed down Ute Pass to traffic on Monday, December 28, 1931. Ute Pass residents, having been forewarned, had already stocked up on various supplies in anticipation of this day. The state of Colorado made arrangements with the Midland Terminal Railroad to set up a special train with reduced rates. This arrangement cost the State one hundred dollars per day, paid to the railroad.
They also provided added times in order to transport school children down to Manitou. There were further talks of special flat cars available to transport automobiles to the Springs, but this never materialized. Another consideration for Cripple Creek-Victor residents was that the Corley Mountain Highway would be kept open during the winter months thanks to a deal struck between Teller County and W.D. Corley Jr.
Once the highway was closed to traffic there was nothing to hamper construction so blasting began immediately. The drilling and shooting by the powdermen happened at night after the regular day shift had left. Manitou residents could hear nightly the whistle of the steam shovel warning employees to seek shelter, then the subsequent blast of dynamite.
A very mild winter was a big accelerator for the contractor. With three steam shovels working and no snow and mild temperatures, the rapid progress of the job was making Colorado highway construction history .
So even though the highway work was speeding right along, there was one oversight by the state on this big road improvement job. That is, they never advertised for bids intended for building the Rainbow Falls Bridge in the work that Glesson & Hamilton was doing. This bridge was needed to connect the improved Ute Pass with the new road over Fountain Creek and down into Manitou.
As the roadwork job continued, steel cables were installed as guards on the edge of the road where needed. The cable was attached to strong creosoted posts that were set about five feet down with three feet above ground level. The state however would not guarantee that a car would not go through it, but that it would help keep motorists safer. It was also reported that during the past summer, the Ute Pass road was one of the most traveled roads in the state. In July of 1931 the daily count averaged 3,990 autos while a month later, the count was 4,250 cars per day using Ute Pass. With these numbers, the State believed that with the current improvements being done the summer of 1932 would show Ute Pass as the busiest in the State.
Meanwhile, the work being done was now concentrated on the Waldo Canyon area. The high precipices there stood in the way of widening and a massive amount of dynamite was being used to cut down the solid rock cliffs. Additionally, even though it was now mid-February, the state had yet to ask for bids for the Rainbow Falls Bridge. Mid-February was also when the entire job was now on the final stretch. The lower Manitou end was completely graveled and graded, it was nice and wide, straight and with an easy grade that included a fenced cable guard posts. But this new modern road stopped at Fountain Creek due to no bridge. Even though they were getting close to completion, heavy blasting continued daily with a huge blast occurring at Waldo Canyon on Wednesday morning, February 18. Great masses of rock were brought down with windows shaking in Manitou.
As spectacular as this new roadway was and the great, speedy work done by the contractor and its workers, it was now greatly overshadowed by the Rainbow Falls Bridge. On March 1, 1932, the state announced that they hadn’t even had plans drawn up yet and didn’t expect to have them until May1. So motorists would have to come into Manitou on the old road until at least November which is when the state was saying the bridge will be completed. All this negative news set off local businesspersons instantly. These workers labored very hard to help get these improvements done on the highway and the prospect of such a long delay really annoyed them. After the local businesses raised such a huge stink, the governor was pressured to act. He said that he has instructed that the plans be rushed. But five days after that declaration, Charles Vail, the State Highway Engineer said that “We can’t drop everything else for one job” and that “We will get the plans out as soon as possible.”
In the meantime, knowing that the bridge construction would be delayed, the existing road into Manitou just above Fountain Creek would be used as a detour. The contractor blasted away rock that widened that area.
The Google screenshot above shows today’s highway configuration. Rainbow Falls Bridge was not built but the road above and below it was ready. Traffic had to detour on the east side of Fountain Creek and down the old entrance into Manitou as the red line shows.
So with the detour in place, it was widely expected that the new Ute Pass Highway would be open on April 1 according to the contractor.
But even with that good news, the bridge issue still loomed large. A storm of protests developed from Colorado Springs and Ute Pass residents along with Teller and Park County farmers. The Teller and Park residents, who according to reports at the time, had been “cooped up for four months by the road work”, sent a letter to Governor Adams. That letter with its 200 signatures, urged his intervention for a speedy completion of the plans and advertisement for bids. It had now been two months since it was brought out that the State hadn’t even had plans for the bridge, yet and there were still none.
January 23, 1932 marked the first recorded and/or reported accident on this project. T.S. Sexton and Earl Anderson were both seriously injured by a premature explosion above Rainbow Falls. Both men were taken to Beth-El hospital (now Penrose) where Sexton’s face and body were badly pitted by gravel and his eyes were injured. Anderson suffered a broken right arm, broken finger and the skin torn off the back of his right hand. He also suffered severe lacerations on his face and body.
Just about two months later, on March 18th, worker A.E. Copeland, 34, of Manitou was completely buried under three feet of dirt for more than two minutes. Another workman, Lester R. Williams, 31, of Cascade was buried up to his neck. Both men were working at the base of a 20 foot vertical embankment that broke off. Fortunately, both men were rescued and taken to Beth-El for treatment.
After all these months of closure, the new and modern Ute Pass Highway known as U.S. 40S, was finally opened to the pubic on the morning of March 28, 1932. The new highway is now thirty-six feet wide. Please remember that the Rainbow Falls Bridge was still not built at this time.
The formerly dangerous, rough and rugged four miles between Manitou and Cascade had been transformed into a wide, high gear highway. Even though now open, the public was urged not to make any sightseeing or unnecessary trips through the Pass prior to April 1. There was still a lot of work to be completed and crews were still visible working at various points along the route. Workmen were putting the finishing touches on the walls, protective cable fences and ditches for drainage. Stone walls were built to keep the highway from crumbling at its edges.
The new highway required fifty tons of dynamite to blast out 200,000 cubic yards of rock . At the same day of the opening, the Midland Terminal Railroad and state officials discontinued the special train service that had been running for the last three plus months. At the time of the opening, the Teller Board of County Commissioners declared that the highway was one of the greatest improvements in the Pikes Peak Region. The Board made their first automobile trip from Cripple Creek to Colorado Springs on April 18.
One tragic note: Unfortunately, there was one more accident on this job. On April 3rd , his last scheduled day on the job, Cline Guinn, 35, of Longmont was killed when he was thrown from the back of the truck he was riding in. He died of a fractured skull and was the first fatality on that job.
The news everyone had been waiting for finally came with the May 5th announcement by the State that bids would be advertised that day for the bridge with an approximate cost of $50,000. When completed the state said it would be one of the finest and most elaborate in Colorado. On June 9, 1932 the contract was awarded to the Pueblo Bridge Company who signed the contract and started right away getting things ready.
Also announced in the month of May, the State said that it would oil the new road between Manitou and Cascade. This is a temporary treatment to keep the dust down for the summer. It was planned that the following year the State would be completely paving that section. The State Highway Department would apply the oil and only one lane at a time would be oiled so as not to interfere with traffic.
By September of 1932, the Rainbow Falls Bridge work was coming along well. On September 7th, the last of the concrete was poured. The cement work was the largest part of the job and now that it was done, it was expected that the bridge would be complete sometime between November 15 and December 1.
The completion and opening to traffic ended up going a few days past the prediction. It was on December 11, 1932 that the Rainbow Falls Bridge officially opened. A stormy weather forecast for the eleventh forced the formal dedication exercises to be held in the Manitou school house instead of at the bridge site. That opening was still met with much fanfare as the American Legion Eber Duelo post was in charge of the ceremonies and dedication. First there was an invocation by the Reverend George Tyrney, then a benediction by the Reverend Father McDermott. A welcoming address to the crowd was given by Manitou Mayor L.K. Van Horn. Federal Judge J. Foster Symes of Denver was the keynote at the gathering.
At the site of the bridge was its christening by Miss Margaret Kirby, the daughter of former Mayor William B. Kirby. Margaret was a Colorado College junior at the time and she smashed a bottle of Manitou ginger champagne on the abutment. George Miller’s band and the Law Quartet supplied the music. Miss Gene Lou Torrance then cut open the ribbon which initiated the parade across the bridge. The Reverend James T. McDermott of the Westside’s Sacred Heart Catholic church gave the benediction. The first automobile to cross carried the state highway commissioner representatives followed by another auto with various speakers for the day. Those speakers included El Paso county commissioners and the Manitou and Colorado Springs city council members. Also included were representatives from Teller County.
News reports said that on the day of the opening, a record number of cars never before seen on Ute Pass traveled the road to Cascade and back. The bridge cost more than $40,000, is concrete and steel and adorned with electric lights along the balustrade rails.
Up until March of 1933, the new highway was only oiled up to Cascade. During that month, however, a crew of 50 men and four truckers started preparing to oil South 40 from Cascade to Woodland Park. In less than three weeks the crew finished and the road was now oiled just past the Woodland Park cutoff. This completed project attracted many automobile travelers from Colorado Springs. So many, that out of curiosity, the Ute Park Land and Water Company had a tally taken of autos passing by the Chipita Lodge. In a 24 hour period they counted 3,500 automobiles headed up Ute Pass. Prior to the oiling, the dust generated by all the heavy traffic adversely affected every home and business along the route. The oiling eliminated all the dust on the road and was such a big deal that a huge celebration was held at Chipita Park. A barbecue supper was served at 5:30 that evening to approximately 1500 people. They enjoyed playing a community baseball game in the afternoon prior to the supper.
During the following years, nothing major happened on South 40 in Ute Pass with the exception of routine road maintenance. There were some dam projects done by the CCC to help with flood issues.
The above headline from the May 17,1935 Times-Record tells the story of the Federal government’s efforts to put thousands of laborers back to work. Colorado’s portion, shown above, would enable the state to take hundreds of workers off relief rolls. They would build new roads and rebuild some of our existing highways.
In our area, a new road up Ute Pass was being talked about using these funds. Remember, at this time, the road from Cascade to Woodland Park was much different than what it is today. That is, from Cascade to Woodland Park the route went through Cascade proper and continued through Green Mountain Falls proper and then on to Crystola and up the Old Road (currently Teller County Road 21). The re-alignment would move the highway away from Cascade and Green Mountain Falls proper with a new section of road from Crystola going into Woodland Park.
January 1, 1936, U.S. 40 South was now recognized as U.S. Highway 24.
The proposed route from Cascade to Woodland Park wasn’t without controversy. Green Mountain Falls residents adamantly opposed the new alignment that would bypass their town. A storm of protests were sent to Governor Johnson asking him to intervene. Two different petitions were also sent to the governor signed by nearly all full-time residents but included seasonal residents too. With so many protests, Governor Johnson delayed the award of the first phase of construction.
During this same time, the highway from Woodland Park to Divide was being surveyed for re-alignment too. Keep in mind that prior to 1937, the road into and out of Woodland was quite different than what we know today.
With all the right of way secured, the work from Divide to Woodland Park started up on September 12, 1936 employing about 100 men with additional laborers as needed. The contractor for the entire route from Divide to Cascade was the Denver firm of DeRemer and Atchison. That company was complimented for having excellent equipment by Teller County Commissioner Alf Coulson who said “They have 12 or 15 new trucks, four gas shovels and fine road construction equipment of every type.” There were many deep cuts and high fills made, most notably the cut just outside of the west end of Woodland Park. This new route would eliminate all railroad crossings. From Divide to Edlowe the road would be north of the tracks and would continue both north and east of the tracks into Woodland Park. From Woodland Park to Crystola the road would be east of the tracks and connect with the road at Cascade, bypassing Green Mountain Falls.
The Woodland Park to Divide portion of this project was completed and opened to traffic on April 20, 1937 with the remaining portion to Cascade to be completed a few days later. Oiling of the entire section was completed in the months to come.
The only issue on these projects came towards the final days when several workers at Crystola staged a “mini-strike” claiming they were not working the number of hours they were promised. A number of law enforcement were called to the scene and everything was worked out. The entire job from Divide to Cascade was completed and opened to traffic on May 18, 1937. The new highway was proclaimed “one of the finest in the country” and was expected to bring increased tourists to the Pikes Peak Region.
One drawback from this new and improved highway was its increased traffic and accidents. In the two months since it was opened there had been so many collisions, injuries and deaths that the highway was becoming known as “accident lane.” The July 20th news reported that during the last couple of days, 14 people were injured and one death occurred.
In the following year, 72.2 miles of Highway 24 were completed from Colorado Springs to Buena Vista. The portion of road and realignment from Divide south to Cripple Creek was also completed.
Download a PDF of this series with footnotes and bibliography
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