Golden Gate Canyon is in the northwestern region of

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

. Glen Creek flows north through the canyon en route to the

Gardner River The Gardner River (also known as the Gardiner River) is a tributary of the Yellowstone River, approximately long, in northwestern Wyoming and south central Montana in the United States. The entire river is located within Yellowstone National P ...

descending from at

Kingman Pass Kingman Pass el. is a mountain pass between Terrance Mountain and Bunsen Peak on the Grand Loop Road (U.S. Route 89), just south of Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park l ...

to just under in less than . The northern portion of the

Grand Loop Road The Grand Loop Road is a historic district which encompasses the primary road system in Yellowstone National Park. Much of the system was originally planned by Captain Hiram M. Chittenden of the US Army Corps of Engineers in the early days of t ...

traverses the canyon, connecting

Mammoth Hot Springs Mammoth Hot Springs is a large complex of hot springs on a hill of travertine in Yellowstone National Park adjacent to Fort Yellowstone and the Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District. It was created over thousands of years as hot water from the s ...

with park features to the south. A road was first built through the Golden Gate in 1884–85, replacing a steep, difficult road over Snow Pass. The construction was directed by U.S. Army Lieutenant

Dan Christie Kingman Dan Christie Kingman (March 6, 1852 – November 14, 1916) was an officer in the United States Army who served as Chief of Engineers from 1913 to 1916. Early life Kingman was born in Dover, New Hampshire on March 6, 1852. Military career E ...

. The canyon's name ''Golden Gate'' was first documented by Kingman in his reports to the Departments of the Army and Interior as what visitors to the park called the canyon and pass because of the yellow hue of the rocks in the area. The work included a wooden trestle where a cliff face precluded grading. In 1900 the viaduct was rebuilt as a concrete structure under the supervision of Captain

Hiram M. Chittenden Hiram Martin Chittenden (October 25, 1858 – October 9, 1917) was an American engineer and historian. A graduate of West Point, he was the Seattle district engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers from 1906 to 1908). Chittenden was one of ...

. Chittenden's viaduct was replaced in turn in 1930–34, the outcome of a program to widen the road.Haines, pp.225-227 The widened viaduct was itself replaced in 1977. Golden Gate construction YNP1

References

External links

Golden Gate Viaduct, Yellowstone National Park, Teton, WY

Historic American Engineering Record Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

documentation of the second viaduct, built 1933
Golden Gate Viaduct, Spanning a ravine at Grand Loop Road, Kingman Pass, Yellowstone National Park, Park, WY
documentation of historic and present viaducts at HAER Canyons and gorges of Wyoming Canyons and gorges of Teton County, Wyoming Landforms of Yellowstone National Park Historic American Engineering Record in Wyoming {{wyoming-geo-stub