It lies in northern Saguache County on the Continental Divide between the Sawatch Range to the north and the Cochetopa Hills to the south.

The pass is part of a backcountry alternative to U.S. Highway 50 between Salida and Gunnison.

[2] The Marshall Pass Toll Road was completed in 1880, with stagecoach service from Gunnison to the Arkansas River where it connected with the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad.

The 1.5 mile (2.4 km) ditch has a capacity of approximately 8 cubic feet per second (0.2 m3/s) and average annual deliveries between 1990 and 1999 were 31 acre-feet (38,000 m3).

[10] The Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District entered a cooperative agreement with the Catlin Canal Company to improve the ditch in 2004, doubling the length of the ditch and increasing its average annual delivery to over 300-acre-feet (370,000 m3).