Mosca Pass and Medano Pass Roads

Mr. and Mrs. Holeman at Montville's former general store and toll road station, circa 1920. Built in the 1870s, it had been abandoned by this time.

NPS Archives

Two of the lower routes over the steep Sangre de Cristo Range, Mosca Pass and Medano Pass have been used for thousands of years by Indigenous people as passageways into the San Luis Valley. In the late 19^th century, both were developed into wagon roads, but with hazardous creek crossings and deep sand at its base, Medano Pass was the less desirable of the two. It is now a popular but challenging 4WD driving route over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Mountain man Antoine Robidoux took two-wheeled carts across Mosca Pass in the 1820s and 1830s, carrying items to trade with the Ute and other tribes in the region. Robidoux was a US citizen of French Canadian ancestry, born in St. Louis. With Robidoux’s frequent travels here, the pass became widely known as Robidoux Pass for many decades. The trail was slightly improved for cart travel during that time.

In 1871, Frank Hastings was awarded a charter to improve the trail over Robidoux Pass into a toll road. A few houses and other structures began to be built at the western base of the pass due to the commerce from travelers. Eventually, the location became a little town called Montville. Settlers in covered wagons, stagecoach companies, traders, Fort Garland soldiers, and mail carriers used the toll road regularly, most stopping for supplies or to mail letters from Montville. In the early 20^th century, the lower portion of the road was significantly damaged in a flash flood. The toll road route eventually reverted to a hiking trail on the west side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, but there is still a 2WD vehicle road on the east side of the range.

 

The first known photograph of the dunes was taken in 1873 by William Henry Jackson, in the foothills just above Montville. At the left edge of the photo, a white house is visible near Mosca Creek, probably one of the first homes built by settlers near the dunes.

US National Archives

By the 1880s, Montville had about 15 buildings, including a post office and little general store to supply residents and travelers on the toll road. No structures from Montville are left today, but there are four white posts marking the location of the store along the Montville Nature Trail. Pick up a Montville Trail guide at the Mosca Pass Trailhead to learn more about this historic community.

The origin of the name ‘Mosca’ is uncertain. It is the Spanish word for ‘fly’, possibly named for the numerous mosquitoes here in early summer. Or, it may have a different origin. Like the pass, the town of Montville had various earlier names, including Mosco and Moscow City. Luis de Moscoso was an early explorer in the area, so one of the previous names of the pass may have been Moscoso Pass.

Though Medano Pass was not used as much as a public road, it was the access road for the Herard Homestead, and they likely maintained it to some extent.