Dallas Divide (el. ) is a high
mountain pass in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
state of
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, 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 wes ...
located on
State Highway 62 about west of the town of
Ridgway.
The pass is a saddle between the
San Juan Mountains to the south and the
Uncompahgre Plateau to the north and divides the
Uncompahgre River watershed from the
San Miguel River watershed and
Ouray County from
San Miguel County. The pass takes its name from Dallas Creek which drains the basin on the north side of
Mount Sneffels into the Uncompahgre River. The divide's namesake is
George M. Dallas, 11th Vice President of the United States.
A toll road was first constructed over Dallas Divide in 1880 linking the town of
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
near Ridgway with
Telluride. In 1890 the
Rio Grande Southern Railroad
The Rio Grande Southern Railroad ( reporting mark RGS, also referred to as "The Southern") was a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge railroad which ran in the southwestern region of the US state of Colorado, from the towns of Durango to Ridgwa ...
was built over the divide from Ridgway to Telluride.
See also
*
:Mountain passes of Colorado
*
Ouray County, Colorado
*
San Juan Mountains
*
San Juan Skyway National Scenic Byway
The San Juan Skyway Scenic and Historic Byway is a All-American Road, National Forest Scenic Byway, and Colorado Scenic and Historic Byway located in Dolores, La Plata, Montezuma, San Juan, and San Miguel counties, Colorado, ...
*
San Miguel County, Colorado
References
External links
USGS TopoZone Entry
Mountain passes of Colorado
Landforms of Ouray County, Colorado
Landforms of San Miguel County, Colorado
Roads in Ouray County, Colorado
Transportation in San Miguel County, Colorado
San Juan Mountains (Colorado)
Rail mountain passes of the United States
{{Colorado-geo-stub