South Pass, Wyoming – Gateway to the West
“And it comes forcibly to mind that this passage in the great Rocky Mountains was fashioned by the supreme ruler to aid the progress of the American people in their westward march to the Pacific Ocean.”
– Joseph Buffum, 1849 California Emigrant
The vast and imposing Rocky Mountains, a formidable geological barrier, carve a jagged path from the northern reaches of Alaska to the southern borders of Mexico. This colossal mountain range effectively bisects the North American continent, creating distinct eastern and western regions. The Continental Divide, rather than being a simple, easily navigable line, is a complex and sprawling network of overlapping mountain ranges and arid sagebrush steppes, stretching hundreds of miles in width. During the era of covered wagon travel, these formidable Rockies presented a significant obstacle to the movement of people, the flow of commerce, and the establishment of reliable communications.
In the early days of exploration, intrepid explorers diligently probed the Northern Rockies, driven by the elusive dream of discovering the fabled "Northwest Passage." The goal was to uncover an accessible route that would facilitate transcontinental travel and trade. The men of Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery ultimately dispelled this myth in 1805, enduring near-fatal hardships as they traversed Montana’s rugged Bitterroot Range and Lemhi Pass. However, the Absaroka (Crow), Shoshone, and other Native American tribes possessed knowledge of a far more accessible gateway through the mountains, situated approximately 400 miles to the south, within the boundaries of present-day Wyoming. This strategic passage, known as South Pass, Wyoming – Gateway to the West, would later prove instrumental in shaping the course of American history.
This vital secret was unveiled in 1812 by a small contingent of traders from the Pacific Fur Company. In June of that year, Robert Stuart and his determined crew embarked on a journey from Fort Astoria, a company outpost nestled along the Columbia River in Oregon. Their mission was to transport crucial business dispatches overland to New York, a monumental undertaking fraught with peril.
From the outset, misfortune seemed to dog their every step. One man attempted suicide, the men endured constant torment from swarms of mosquitoes, and a Shoshone guide absconded with Stuart’s prized horse. However, before disappearing into the vast wilderness, the guide divulged information about a shorter route through the central Rockies. Intrigued, the Astorians resolved to seek out this elusive passage on their own. Three months into their arduous journey, fate dealt them a cruel blow as they approached the Teton Range, near the present-day border between Idaho and Wyoming. An Absaroka war party descended upon them, capturing all their horses and leaving them stranded.
Stuart’s men found themselves afoot in unfamiliar territory, a thousand miles from any semblance of civilization, bereft of essential supplies, and facing the harsh realities of an impending Rocky Mountain winter. Driven by desperation, they pressed eastward, eventually stumbling upon an Indian trail that led them south of the Wind River Range and through a wide pass over the Great Divide. They had successfully located the Shoshone’s "shorter route," the legendary South Pass, Wyoming – Gateway to the West. Despite this discovery, they remained deep within the unforgiving wilderness. After enduring a long and hungry winter, huddled together on the eastern plains of Wyoming, Stuart’s resilient band finally reached St. Louis, Missouri, in April 1813. They carried with them the momentous news of the southern pass, a passage that held the potential to open the continent to wagon travel and transform the landscape of the American West.
Unfortunately, their groundbreaking news was overshadowed by the brewing conflict with England, the War of 1812. As a result, the significance of the great southern pass faded into obscurity, remaining largely forgotten until friendly Absaroka tribesmen directed a small party of mountain men, including the legendary Jedediah Smith, James Clyman, and Thomas Fitzpatrick, through the crucial gap in 1824. The South Pass, Wyoming – Gateway to the West, had been rediscovered.
This rediscovery ignited a transformative period in American history. Trappers and pack-mule caravans began to utilize South Pass, Wyoming – Gateway to the West, transporting vital supplies over the passage to the annual fur trade fair known as the Rendezvous. In 1830, the intrepid mountain man William Sublette led the first wagons to the Rendezvous, stopping just east of the Continental Divide. While Sublette demonstrated that loaded wagons could indeed traverse the mountain terrain, the "fur trace" remained so rough that he opted to return with pack mules the following year. However, in a pivotal moment, Captain Benjamin L. E. Bonneville, at the head of a 20-wagon supply train, blazed the first wagon track directly over South Pass, Wyoming – Gateway to the West, beginning on July 24, 1832. This accomplishment paved the way for a steady stream of carts and wagons to follow, forever altering the landscape of the American West.
As word of the pass spread, other travelers began to join the annual fur caravans, seeking safe passage across the formidable overland route. Missionaries Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, along with Henry and Eliza Spalding, crossed the Rocky Mountains with the fur brigade in 1836, demonstrating that women were indeed capable of enduring the trials of the trail. Four years later, emigrants Joel and Mary Walker, accompanied by their four children and two covered wagons, joined the last supply caravan heading to the final trappers’ Rendezvous. They reached Oregon in September 1840, and Mary gave birth to a daughter in January. The Walkers’ journey served as a powerful testament to the fact that even families with children and expectant mothers could undertake the arduous 2,000-mile overland trip. Their remarkable example helped to open the floodgates of emigration, ushering in a new era of westward expansion.
Over the next three decades, the trickle of travelers swelled into a stream, and ultimately into a torrent of humanity, livestock, and technology, all pouring through South Pass, Wyoming – Gateway to the West. Government survey parties, soldiers, missionaries, emigrant wagon and handcart companies, hopeful gold-seekers and adventurers, countless stage and mail coaches, commercial freight wagons, riders of the Pony Express, and the transcontinental telegraph – all funneled through that narrow, 2-mile-wide passage through the Continental Divide. The constant passage of hooves and wheels cut deep into the earth, leaving behind ruts that are still visible in places today, a lasting testament to the immense impact of this vital gateway.
South Pass, Wyoming – Gateway to the West served as the indispensable portal to the vast and promising territories of the West. Without this remarkable accident of geography, the Oregon Trail, the California Trail, and the Mormon Trail to Utah would likely not have existed. The course of American history would have been drastically different, and the United States might never have stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The South Pass, Wyoming – Gateway to the West stands as a symbol of the westward expansion that defined a nation.