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( June 2008 ) South Pass Historic South Pass, seen from the east looking westward towards Pacific Springs Elevation 7,412 ft ( 2,259 m ) Traversed by Oregon Trail, California Trail, and Mormon Trail, Wyoming Highway 28 Location Fremont County, Wyoming United States Range Wind River Range and Antelope Hills ( Radium Springs, Wyoming ) Coordinates 42 ° 22 ′ 12 '' N 108 ° 54 ′ 49 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 42.37000 ° N 108.91361 ° W ﻿ / 42.37000 ; - 108.91361 Coordinates : 42 ° 22 ′ 12 '' N 108 ° 54 ′ 49 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 42.37000 ° N 108.91361 ° W ﻿ / 42.37000 ; - 108.91361 Topo map USGS Pacific Springs South Pass U.S. National Register of Historic Places U.S. National Historic Landmark Map of southwestern Wyoming showing location of South Pass at the headwaters of the Sweetwater River Nearest city South Pass City, Wyoming Built 1824 Architect Unknown NRHP reference # 66000754 Significant dates Added to NRHP October 15, 1966 Designated NHL January 20, 1961 South Pass ( elevation 7,412 feet ( 2,259 m ) and 7,550 feet ( 2,300 m ) ) is the collective term for two mountain passes on the Continental Divide, in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Wyoming. The passes are located in a broad low region, 35 miles ( 56 km ) wide, between the Wind River Range to the north and the Oregon Buttes and Great Divide Basin to the south, in southwestern Fremont County, approximately 35 miles ( 56 km ) SSW of Lander. South Pass is the lowest point on the Continental Divide between the Central and Southern Rocky Mountains. The passes furnish a natural crossing point of the Rockies. The historic pass became the route for emigrants on the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails to the West during the 19th century. It has been designated as a U.S. National Historic Landmark. Oregon Buttes - a National Historic Landmark on the Oregon Trail near South Pass City The pass is a broad open saddle with prairie and sagebrush, allowing a broad and nearly level route between the Atlantic and Pacific watersheds. The Sweetwater River flows past the east side of the pass, and Pacific Creek rises on the west side. Historic South Pass is the lower of the two passes ( elevation 7,412 feet ( 2,259 m ) ), and was the easy crossing point used by emigrants. Wyoming Highway 28 crosses the Continental Divide 2.5 miles ( 4.0 km ) to the northwest at elevation 7,550 feet ( 2,300 m ), and its crossing is also named South Pass. The Lander Cutoff Route crosses the Continental Divide at the far northwest end of the broad South Pass region, about 25 miles ( 40 km ) to the northwest of the South Passes, at an elevation of 8,030 feet ( 2,450 m ). Contents 1 History 2 See also 3 References 4 Further reading 5 External links History South Pass sign The 1812 discovery of the pass, by European Americans, as a natural crossing point of the Rockies was a significant, but surprisingly difficult achievement in the westward expansion of the United States. Because the Lewis and Clark Expedition was searching for a water route across the Continental Divide, it did not learn of South Pass from any Native Americans in the area. Instead, the expedition followed a northerly route up the Missouri River, crossing the Rockies over difficult passes in the Bitterroot Range in Montana. Many say that in 1812 Robert Stuart and six companions from the Pacific Fur Company ( the Astorians ) happened to cross the Rockies at this point, while trying to avoid Indians further north, on their return to St. Louis, Missouri from Astoria, Oregon. In 1856 Ramsay Crooks, one of the party, wrote a letter describing their journey : `` In 1811, the overland party of Mr. Astor 's expedition, under the command of Mr. Wilson P. Hunt, of Trenton, New Jersey, although numbering sixty well armed men, found the Indians so very troublesome in the country of the Yellowstone River, that the party of seven persons who left Astoria toward the end of June, 1812, considering it dangerous to pass again by the route of 1811, turned toward the southeast as soon as they had crossed the main chain of the Rocky Mountains, and, after several days ' journey, came through the celebrated ' South Pass ' in the month of November, 1812. '' `` Pursuing from thence an easterly course, they fell upon the River Platte of the Missouri, where they passed the winter and reached St. Louis in April, 1813. '' `` The seven persons forming the party were Robert McClelland of Hagerstown, who, with the celebrated Captain Wells, was captain of spies under General Wayne in his famous Indian campaign, Joseph Miller of Baltimore, for several years an officer of the U.S. Army, Robert Stuart, a citizen of Detroit, Benjamin Jones, of Missouri, who acted as huntsman of the party, Francois LeClaire, a halfbreed, and André Valée, a Canadian voyageur, and Ramsay Crooks, who is the only survivor of this small band of adventurers. '' ( Letter of Ramsay Crooks to the Detroit Free Press, June 28, 1856 ) During the 20th century, Oregon Trail boosters marked the trailway with monuments. Ezra Meeker erected this boulder near Pacific Springs on Wyoming 's South Pass in 1906. Despite Stuart 's meticulous journal of the trip, which he presented to Astor and President James Madison, and published in France, the location of the South Pass did not become widely known. For more than a decade, European - American trappers continued to use a longer, more northern route. It included an extra mountain range to be crossed and had a shorter season for crossing. This all is very believable, and supported by many sources, but sadly not the truth. Among the `` mountain men '', there was a trapper known as Jeddiah Smith. He learned of the South Pass from Native Americans in present - day Wyoming. The date of this discovery was never recorded, but historians know that it was sometime between 1825 & 1840. In 1823 a St. Louis merchant named William Henry Ashley ( started the rendezvous system ) led a party up the Sweetwater to its source, rediscovered the pass ( look back to previous paragraph ), and spent the summer in its vicinity trapping. He returned again in 1824, this time going as far as Great Salt Lake and setting up a trading post there, which after three profitable years he sold to the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, headed by William Sublette, and David Jackson. In 1832 Captain Benjamin Bonneville and a caravan of 110 men and 20 wagons became the first group to take wagons over the pass. In July 1836, Narcissa Whitman and Eliza Spalding were the first white pioneer women to cross South Pass. Between 1848 and 1868, South Pass was the preferred crossing point for emigrants westward, most of whom followed the Sweetwater River across Wyoming to its headwaters, following the Central Route. Before the railroads offered an easier crossing in 1869, perhaps half a million emigrants would trek through South Pass. Gold had been discovered in the gulches near the pass as early as 1842. However, it was not until 1867, when an ore sample was transported to Salt Lake City, that an influx of miners descended into the region. The gold rush led to the establishment of booming mining communities, such as South Pass City and Atlantic City. The placer gold in the streams was exhausted quickly, however, and by 1870 the miners began leaving the region. In 1884, Emile Granier, a French mining engineer, established a hydraulic drilling operation that allowed gold mining to continue. Gold mining was revived in nearby Rock Creek in the 1930s. Additionally, from 1962 through 1983, a U.S. Steel iron ore mine operated in Atlantic City, and the company 's Atlantic City Mine Railroad crossed South Pass. South Pass was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961. Wyoming Highway 28 traverses the modern pass, roughly following the route of the Oregon Trail. Wagon ruts are still clearly visible at numerous sites within a few miles of the highway. See also Wyoming portal Continental Divide of the Americas List of passes of the Rocky Mountains South Pass City, Wyoming References Jump up ^ National Park Service ( 2008 - 04 - 15 ). `` National Register Information System ''. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. ^ Jump up to : `` South Pass ''. National Historic Landmark Program. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2008 - 04 - 13. Retrieved 2008 - 06 - 27. Jump up ^ `` Archived copy ''. Archived from the original on 2014 - 08 - 09. Retrieved 2014 - 06 - 22. Jump up ^ Crooks, Ramsay ( March -- December 1916 ). `` Who Discovered the South Pass ? ''. In Young, Frederic George. Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society. XVII. Portland, Oregon : Ivy Press. Jump up ^ Meeker, Ezra ( 1908 ). Ventures and Adventures of Ezra Meeker : Or, Sixty Years of Frontier Life. Rainer Printing Company. ASIN B000861WA8. Jump up ^ Victor, Frances Fuller ( 1870 ). The river of the West : Life and adventure in the Rocky mountains and Oregon ; embracing events in the life - time of a mountain - man and pioneer : with the early history of the north - western slope, including an account of the fur traders... Also, a description of the country. R.W. Bliss and Company. Jump up ^ `` South Pass '' ( pdf ). National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings. National Park Service. 14 October 1959. Retrieved 2009 - 06 - 22. `` Accompanying photographs '' ( pdf ). National Park Service. October 1958. Jump up ^ https://www.google.com/maps/place/%22Parting+of+the+Ways%22+Emigrant+Cut-Off+Historic+Site/@42.2851195,-109.057374,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1s-PSDO3lJNXzw%2FVcyfLnav-MI%2FAAAAAAAAKzE%2F7NhC6KiCujAIoq735gTD8lavw4wBwIC9ACJkC!2e4!3e12!6s%2F%2Flh4.googleusercontent.com%2F-PSDO3lJNXzw%2FVcyfLnav-MI%2FAAAAAAAAKzE%2F7NhC6KiCujAIoq735gTD8lavw4wBwIC9ACJkC%2Fs203-k-no%2F!7i1024!8i576!4m12!1m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x8f7ac60de43ce209!2s%22Parting+of+the+Ways%22+Emigrant+Cut-Off+Historic+Site!8m2!3d42.2851195!4d-109.057374!3m4!1s0x0:0x8f7ac60de43ce209!8m2!3d42.2851195!4d-109.057374!6m1!1e1?hl=en-US Further reading Bagley, Will. South Pass : Gateway to a Continent ( Norman : University of Oklahoma Press, 2014 ) 325 pp External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to South Pass ( Wyoming ). History and virtual tour of South pass `` Ramsay Crooks 1856 letter '', XMission.com South Pass National Historic Landmark, Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office Mormon Trail landmarks Illinois Nauvoo Nebraska Chimney Rock Courthouse and Jail Rocks Scotts Bluff Wyoming Devil 's Gate Independence Rock Martin 's Cove Names Hill Register Cliff South Pass Utah Big Mountain Pass Emigration Canyon National Register of Historic Places in Fremont County, Wyoming National Historic Landmark South Pass Historic districts Carpenter Hotel Historic District CM Ranch and Simpson Lake Cabins Diamond A Ranch Fort Washakie Historic District Hamilton City Lander Downtown Historic District Quien Sabe Ranch South Pass Historic District St. Michael 's Mission T Cross Ranch Rural Historic District Torrey Lake Historic District Torrey Lake Petroglyph District Twin Pines Lodge and Cabin Camp Historic properties Atlantic City Mercantile BMU Bridge over Wind River Brooks Lake Lodge Castle Gardens Petroglyph Site Dean Decker Site Delfelder Schoolhouse ELS Bridge over Big Wind River ELY Wind River Diversion Dam Bridge Green Mountain Arrow Site High Rise Village Jackson Park Town Site Addition Brick Row C.H. King Company and First National Bank of Shoshoni Helen Lookingbill Site Riverton Railroad Depot Shoshone - Episcopal Mission Split Rock Prehistoric Site Union Pass US Post Office and Courthouse - Lander Welty 's General Store Wind River Agency Blockhouse See also : National Register of Historic Places listings in Fremont County, Wyoming and List of National Historic Landmarks in Wyoming Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=South_Pass_(Wyoming)&oldid=842937105 '' Categories : California Trail Landforms of Fremont County, Wyoming Great Divide of North America National Register of Historic Places in Wyoming Mormon Trail Mountain passes of Wyoming National Historic Landmarks in Wyoming Oregon Trail Pony Express Transportation in Fremont County, Wyoming Natural features on the National Register of Historic Places in Wyoming National Register of Historic Places in Fremont County, Wyoming Road transportation infrastructure on the National Register of Historic Places Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from June 2008 All articles needing additional references Coordinates on Wikidata Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Español Français Italiano Polski Português Svenska Edit links This page was last edited on 25 May 2018, at 18 : 08. 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Question: who found the south pass in wyoming in 1823
Answer: William Henry Ashley