History of a Road

Wolf Creek Pass, named for squatter-trapper Bill Wolf, became an important north-south route after earlier travel into the fertile Pagosa Country had gone through Cumbres and Elwood Passes. The region was first used by migrating bands of hunter-gatherers from 4000 BC to 200 AD, later by Spanish and French explorers seeking gold in the 1700's, and finally by settlers in the mid-1800's. Growing wealth from lumber rather than gold led to construction of a faster route, and men working with horses and wagons completed the narrow, steep pass road in 1916. Crossing it in a Model-T Ford took two days and often brought burning brakes, boiling radiators, and delays to shovel through lingering snow, while encounters with oncoming vehicles could test tempers and diplomacy. Though now transformed by smooth pavement, double lanes, snowslide sheds, and runaway-truck ramps into a safer one-hour trip, Wolf Creek Pass remains celebrated in songs and poems as the “bearcat” of mountain passes.

Colorado · United States