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w w w. d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m
near Helena. The monument was built to honor Roosevelt and
to memorialize the completion of his namesake highway. Con-
gress appropriated $25,000 for the monument, and construction
was completed in 1931.
The monument was built at Marias Pass. With an elevation
of 5,213 feet, it became the northernmost mountain pass open
to automobile traffic in the United States year-round, without
which the Roosevelt Highway could not have been completed.
Today, U.S. Route 2 uses the pass, along with the BNSF Rail-
way, a successor to the Great Northern Railway. The railroad
route, which sees much freight traffic, is also used by Amtrak's
Empire Builder. It is part of BNSF's Northern Transcon line link-
ing Chicago and the Pacific Northwest. A statue of John F. Ste-
vens, the engineer who discovered Marias Pass while working
for the Great Northern Railway, stands at the summit.
When the ribbon was cut on the Roosevelt Memorial Obe-
lisk and the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway was
opened, the highway traversed two countries, 12 states, three
provinces, five great lakes, two oceans, 86 counties, 64 county
seats and a population of more than 4.2 million people.
The impact of the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway
was immediately felt. Not only did it connect communities and
cultures across vast stretches of land, it heralded a new era of
regional and national transportation, facilitating the movement
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The Marias Pass
monument
