South Pass City
🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 Gold Rush Ghost Town — Restored 1867 gold rush town at South Pass — where the Oregon Trail crossed the Continental Divide and women won the RIGHT TO VOTE for the first time in US history
South Pass City is a beautifully restored 1867 gold rush ghost town at South Pass — the famous crossing of the Continental Divide on the Oregon Trail! South Pass was the key to the entire western migration — a gradual 20-mile-wide gap through the Rocky Mountains at 7,550 feet that wagon trains could cross without extreme difficulty. South Pass City boomed during the Carissa gold strike (1867) and is also where women’s suffrage began — Esther Hobart Morris championed the cause here, and Wyoming Territory granted women the vote in 1869, 51 years before the 19th Amendment!
Visitor Information
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Location | Fremont County, WY (Continental Divide!) |
| Entry Fee | $4 resident / $6 non-resident |
| Gold | 1867 Carissa gold rush! |
| First | Women’s vote 1869 — 51 years early! |
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was South Pass so important?
South Pass was the ONLY practical wagon route through the Rocky Mountains — a gradual, 20-mile-wide gap at 7,550 feet. Without South Pass, the Oregon Trail, California Trail, and Mormon Trail would not have been possible. An estimated 500,000+ people crossed South Pass between 1841 and 1869.
About South Pass City
South Pass City State Historic Site preserves an 1867 gold mining town at the Continental Divide — where the Oregon Trail crossed the Rocky Mountains at 7,550 feet via the gentlest passage. The town’s 1869 Territorial Legislature passed the first women’s suffrage law in American history — giving Wyoming women the right to vote 51 years before the 19th Amendment. Esther Hobart Morris served as the nation’s first female justice of the peace here.
Things to Do
Touring 30+ restored buildings, gold panning, visiting the Carissa Mine, learning about women’s suffrage history (Wyoming was the “Equality State”), hiking the Continental Divide, and walking the Oregon Trail crossing.
⛏️ Visit South Pass City
Gold rush + women’s vote — where the Oregon Trail crossed the Rockies!
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