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South Pass (elevation 7,412 ft (2,259 m) and 7,550 ft (2,300 m)) is a route across the Continental Divide, in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Wyoming. It lies in a broad high region, 35 miles (56 km) wide, between the nearly 14,000 ft (4,300 m) Wind River Range to the north and the over 8,500 ft (2,600 m) Oregon Buttes [ 3 ] and arid ...
South Pass, a 20 mile wide, gently sloping gap in the Rocky Mountains, was perhaps the most important landform along the emigrant trails. It opened the West to settlement by providing a route over the Continental Divide that wagons could negotiate.
South Pass, located in southwest Wyoming, was the key that opened the door for emigrant wagons and handcarts to cross the Rocky Mountains in the early and mid-1800s. The 20-mile wide, sagebrush-covered saddle topped a gradual incline that appeared more like a prairie than a mountain pass.
Without South Pass, the entire history of the United States’ expansion west of the Mississippi would have been different. South Pass got its name to distinguish it from the tedious and difficult northern route through the Rocky Mountains taken in 1805 and 1806 by Lewis and Clark through the Bitterroot Mountains.
South Pass is a route across the Continental Divide, in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Wyoming. It lies in a broad high region, 35 miles wide, between the nearly 14,000 ft Wind River Range to the north and the over 8,500 ft Oregon Buttes and arid, saline near-impassable Great Divide Basin to the south.
South Pass was perhaps the most important landmark along the emigrant trails. It marked the end of the long ascent to the Continental Divide and the emigrants' arrival at the frontier of the Oregon country. It was also thought to be the halfway point along the trail.
Nestled just south of the magnificent Wind River Mountain Range, South Pass provided pioneers who were heading west a natural crossing point through the treacherous Rocky Mountains. Because of South Pass's tremendous historic significance and importance, it was deservedly designated a National Historic Landmark, and is a wonderful area to visit ...
The Rocky Mountains stretch like a jagged spine between Alaska and Mexico, splitting North America into East and West. The Continental Divide is not a simple line of peaks, easily threaded by track and roads, but a complex of overlapping mountain ranges and treeless sagebrush steppe, hundreds of miles wide.
Thanks to its large width—20 miles—and gradual incline, pioneers used this mountain pass to cross the Rockies with handcarts and wagons. They also used it as a landmark marking the end of the Continental Divide and a marker of the halfway point along the Oregon Trail.
The South Pass, in which you are now located, is perhaps the most significant transportation-gateway through the Rocky Mountains. Indians, mountain men, Oregon Trail emigrants, Pony Express riders, and miners all recognized the value of this passageway straddling the Continental Divide.