Emigrant Gap is a gap in a ridge on the

California Trail The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. After it was established, the first half of the California Trail f ...

as it crosses the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

, to the west of what is now known as Donner Pass. Here the cliffs are so steep that, back in the 1840s, the pioneers on their way to California had to lower their wagons on ropes in order to continue. The Emigrant Gap was so named because it was a low gap on a ridge where the emigrants' wagons crossed from the American River drainage to the Bear River drainage. It was part of the Truckee Route, a portion of the

by which pioneers, heading west, emigrated from the United States to California, which was part of Mexico until it was captured by the United States in the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). There is a California historical marker (number 403), dedicated on June 25, 1950, on

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...

commemorating this brave and arduous task. :''The spring of 1845 saw the first covered wagons surmount the Sierra Nevada Mountains. They left this valley, ascended to the ridge, and turned westward to old Emigrant Gap. The wagons were lowered by ropes to the floor of Bear Valley. Hundreds followed before, during, and after the gold rush. This was a hazardous portion of the overland emigrant trail.''http://ceres.ca.gov/geo_area/counties/Placer/landmarks.html
''ceres.ca.gov'' The small unincorporated community of

Emigrant Gap Emigrant Gap is a gap in a ridge on the California Trail as it crosses the Sierra Nevada, to the west of what is now known as Donner Pass. Here the cliffs are so steep that, back in the 1840s, the pioneers on their way to California had to lowe ...

is adjacent to the gap. The

Stephens–Townsend–Murphy Party The Stephens–Townsend–Murphy Party consisted of ten families who migrated from Iowa to California prior to the Mexican–American War and the California Gold Rush. The Stephens Party is significant in California history because they were the ...

were the first to cross Emigrant Gap and the Sierra, doing so in 1844–45.

References

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External links

* History of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Mountain passes of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Historic trails and roads in California Pre-statehood history of California Lincoln Highway Rail mountain passes of the United States Landforms of Placer County, California {{PlacerCountyCA-geo-stub