Toponas, Colorado

Toponas, Colorado
Unincorporated community
Entering Toponas on State Highway 131.
Location in Routt County and the state of Colorado
Coordinates: 40°03′28″N 106°48′05″W / 40.05778°N 106.80139°WCoordinates: 40°03′28″N 106°48′05″W / 40.05778°N 106.80139°W
Country	United States
State	Colorado
County	Routt County[1]
Elevation[1]	8,284 ft (2,525 m)
Time zone	MST (UTC-7)
• Summer (DST)	MDT (UTC-6)
ZIP code[2]	80479
GNIS feature ID	0173099

Toponas is an unincorporated community with a U.S. Post Office in Routt County, Colorado, United States. The Toponas Post Office has the ZIP Code 80479.^[2]

A post office called Toponas has been in operation since 1888.^[3] The community took its name from nearby Toponas Rock.^[4]

Geography

Toponas is located at 40°03′28″N 106°48′05″W / 40.05778°N 106.80139°W (40.057841,-106.801357). Despite the small size of the town, this is a strategic location, lying in a broad mountain pass on the divide between the Yampa River to the north and the Colorado River to the south. As a result, the town is traversed by not only State Highway 131, but also the former Craig branch of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Toponas also lies at the west end of State Highway 134 and thus at the bottom of the climb to Gore Pass, on one of the two highway routes between the Yampa Valley and Middle Park.

References

1. "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
2. "ZIP Code Lookup" (JavaScript/HTML). United States Postal Service. January 3, 2007. Retrieved January 3, 2007.
3. "Post offices". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
4. Dawson, John Frank. Place names in Colorado: why 700 communities were so named, 150 of Spanish or Indian origin. Denver, CO: The J. Frank Dawson Publishing Co. p. 49.