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Home > The Drives > Oregon National Historic Trail > Key Landmarks & Attractions > South Pass
South Pass
South Pass is the most important landmark on the Oregon Trail, and made travel across the continent and westward migration possible. Rather than a narrow gap, South Pass is miles wide. Here, the emigrants crossed the Continental Divide, moving from stream drainage to the Atlantic Ocean to that of the Pacific Ocean. Once Oregon Trail travelers crossed South Pass, they entered Oregon Country. Two markers are at the summit. One is a granite boulder that was erected by Ezra Meeker in June 1906. The other is a marker dedicated to Narcissa Prentiss Whitman and Eliza Hart Spalding, the first white women to cross South Pass, which they accomplished in 1836. A BLM interpretive overlook of South Pass is on State Route 28, 42 miles southwest of Lander.
