Bridger's Pass

Bridger's Pass was second in importance only to South Pass as a major central passageway over the continental divide during the period of westward development and migration that occurred in the United States around the mid-nineteenth century. The Pass was long considered a likely possibility for the routing of a transcontinental railroad system. For over six years the Overland Stage line traversed Bridger's Pass while providing the United States mail delivery and transcontinental transportation between the Missouri River and the Pacific Coast.

It is not known when man first began to travel over Bridger's Pass. One discovery of prehistoric cultural remains in the immediate vicinity of the Pass was estimated through Carbon - 14 dating processes as being 11,000 years old. Although there is no proof it is reasonable to assume that the Pass was used for centuries by prehistoric peoples migrating over the High Plains. Since the early Western fur trappers customarily followed Indian trails it is also likely that the Pass received some usage during the period of the Rocky Mountain fur trade. In fact, it was the noted fur trapper James Bridger that guided Captain Howard Stansbury and his men over the Pass in 1850. The Stansbury Expedition is the first organized body of white men known to have traveled through the Pass. Bridger had supposedly discovered the divide around 1842 or 1843 but its designation as "Bridger's Pass" cannot be traced back farther than the Stansbury report. No doubt Stansbury gave it this name in recognition of the services performed by his respected guide. The Stansbury expedition was sent out by the federal government in 1849 to explore and survey the valley of the Great Salt Lake.

Returning east the following year the expedition stopped over at Fort Bridger, hired Jim Bridger as a guide, and then traveled across the Red Desert reaching Bridger's Pass on September 20, 1850. From Bridger's Pass, the Stansbury party continued on to Fort Laramie thus ending their reconnaissance. Stansbury's report of his findings publicized the possibilities of an overland route through Bridger's Pass and contributed greatly to the use the Pass would later receive. The trail over Bridger's Pass became generally known as the Cherokee Trail, named after a group of Cherokee Indians who had passed through the region in 1849 on their way to California.

The great surge westward created by the California "gold rush" resulted in some emigrant travel over Bridger's Pass throughout the 1850s. In 1856, Bridger's Pass became the object of another military reconnaissance. That year Lieutenant Francis F. Bryan lead an expedition west to determine the feasibility of establishing a road between Fort Riley, Kansas, and the valley of the Salt Lake. Bryan moved his wagons through Bridger's Pass in August of 1856 cutting out a trail and making some improvements as he went. Having crossed the continental divide with wagons, Bryan had surmounted his greatest obstacle and considered his mission a success. He then retraced his route back over the Pass and returned to the Laramie Plains and into Colorado.

When a dispute developed between the United States and the Mormons in Utah the Bridger's Pass route again saw usage by the military. During this so-called "Mormon War" Col. A. S. Johnston, then wintering with his troops, at Camp Scott near Fort Bridger, sent John Bartleston over Bridger's Pass o determine its desirability for use in moving troops from Fort Laramie. Leaving Fort Bridger on December 1, 1857, Bartleston made the trip to Fort Laramie and noted in his diary the favorable qualities of the terrain. He concluded, "I think this pass is better than the south pass."

The military was not fully convinced of the advantages of the Bridger's Pass route over those of South Pass, however, the Bridger's Pass route meant saving a few miles, and the next spring Johnston's reinforcements traveled over it on their way to Fort Bridger. Driving large numbers of mules and horses, units of cavalry and rifleman under the command of Captain Randolph B. Marcy crossed the divide in May of 1858.

After the "Mormon War", the Bridger's Pass route did not see any activity of great consequence until 1862. By this time the Civil War was in progress and military strength in the West was being depleted Indian harassment increased to such an extent that the Oregon-California Trail became unsafe to travel and Ben Holladay's Overland Stage and Express Company was unable to make delivery of the United States mails to the West Coast. In hopes of avoiding Indian depredations a section of the Stage Line was relocated along a route that passed over Bridger's Pass. New stage stations were built at regular intervals along the new route. One station was located at Bridger's Pass, 922 miles west of Missouri. Approximately ten miles to the east of Bridger's Pass Station was Pine Grove Station and ten miles to the west was Sulphur Springs Station. This section of the trail became one of the hardest hit as the Indians continued to harass the stage line operation culminating in the disastrous summer of 1865. In 1865 the Indians managed to completely disrupt stage travel, to destroy stage stations and other property, and run off all the company's livestock over a hundred-mile stretch. The Indians also managed to kill a number of white men in their attacks. Bridger's Pass Station never came under direct siege by the Indians but it occasionally suffered from the loss of livestock and property. At times during the peak of Indian hostilities, the station attendants deserted Bridger's Pass for the relative safety afforded by the Sulphur Springs Station.

Use of the Overland Trail steadily declined after the completion of the first transcontinental railway in 1869. Superseded by the railroad the Overland Stage Line was forced to suspend operations. Bridger's Pass thereafter was off the mainstream of the transcontinental movement. Today, the Bridger's Pass area serves local ranching interests and is relatively isolated from the modern world. A quiet atmosphere pervades the Pass with little suggestion of the exciting activity that prevailed a century before.