mined, and the district was divided into the East Argentine and West Argentine Districts, divided by the pass. Many remains of mining activity remain visible today. Work began on a toll road over Argentine Pass in 1869; the toll was typically one dollar for a team and wagon. In 1883, the road was purchased by Clear Creek and Summit County as a public highway; in the same year, the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad reached Dillon, diverting most of the freight traffic from the toll road. The stagecoach fare from Georgetown to Chihuahua, away by road over the pass, was $2.50 in 1885. Under county management, the road was never well maintained, and it gradually became impassable to teams and wagons. The town of Waldorf was established as a rest stop on the east side of the pass. In 1875, the Hayden Survey reported the Argentine Pass wagon road to be the highest wagon road in Colorado; at the time, it was the primary route from Georgetown to the mining camps in the Blue River Valley (Breckenridge and Montezuma). Colorado Telephone laid the first telephone line across Argentine Pass in 1899; this was a twisted-pair line resting directly on the ground, but it was replaced a year later with submarine cable. The cable, which carried 6 toll lines required intensive maintenance and was entirely replaced 3 times before its use was abandoned in 1909. Conies (pikas) chewing on the line caused major damage, as did rock slides. From 1909 to 1916, twisted pair lines were used again, with annual replacement. Finally, in the summer of 1916, Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph Company installed a heavily engineered overhead line, hauling supplies by rail to Waldorf and then onward by pack train. This line, only long, was built at over 7 times the cost of of a comparable line in more forgiving territory; the cost was justified because it was the only telephone connection from Denver to Leadville and the western half of the state. In mid 1909, the Central Colorado Power Co. began delivering power over the Shoshone Transmission Line from Glenwood Springs to Denver. This three-phase 90 kV line was split into two parallel lines as much as apart for the segment thamilet crossed Argentine Pass from below Waldorf on the east to Argentine on the west (both are ghost towns today). As currently routed, this line crosses the