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 Donner Pass is a mountain pass in the northern Sierra Nevada, above Donner Lake and Donner Memorial State Park about west of Truckee, California. Like the Sierra Nevada themselves, the pass has a steep approach from the east and a gradual appr ...

. 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 , name_etymology = , image = American River CA.jpg , image_size = 300 , image_caption = The American River at Folsom , map = Americanrivermap.png , map_size = 300 , map_caption ...

drainage to the Bear River drainage. It was part of the Truckee Route, a portion of the California Trail by which pioneers, heading west, emigrated from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, which was part of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

until it was captured by the United States in the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

(1846–1848). There is a California historical marker (number 403), dedicated on June 25, 1950, on Interstate 80 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 is adjacent to the gap. The Stephens–Townsend–Murphy Party 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