A series where we take a #lookback at the stories and history of our community, brought to you by Mick Pryor, Financial Advisor with Edward Jones.
As the United States marks its two hundred and fiftieth year in 2026, attention turns not only to the founding cities of the East, but to the rugged corridors of the West that helped fulfill the nation’s earliest ambitions. Among these, few places hold as much quiet historical weight as Union Pass—a high, windswept crossing in western Wyoming that once served as a critical link between worlds.
In the early years of the republic, President Thomas Jefferson envisioned a continental nation stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Following the Louisiana Purchase, Jefferson began dispatching expeditions of explorers, traders, and scientists into the vast and largely unmapped interior. Their goal was not only discovery, but connection—to find viable routes across the Great Plains, over the Rocky Mountains, and onward to the Pacific Ocean.
One such route, though less celebrated than others, ran through a remarkable natural crossroads: Union Pass.
Rising to an elevation of 9,210 feet, Union Pass sits near the convergence of several major mountain ranges—the Wind River, Gros Ventre, and Absaroka, with the Teton and Wyoming ranges nearby. From this single high point, waters begin journeys to three distant seas. Streams flowing from Union Pass feed the headwaters of the Colorado, Columbia, and Missouri Rivers, ultimately reaching the Gulf of California, the Pacific Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico. For this reason, Native peoples long called the region the “Land of Many Rivers.”
Long before American expansion, Union Pass was part of an extensive network of Indigenous trails. Tribes including the Shoshone, Bannock, Arapaho, Gros Ventre, Bitterroot Salish, Nez Perce, and Crow traveled these routes for trade, hunting, and seasonal migration. The pass served as a natural hub, linking the Wind River Valley to the Snake River country and beyond. Trails radiated in multiple directions, allowing travelers to move north toward Yellowstone, west into Jackson Hole, or south along the Green River.
When fur trappers entered the region in the early nineteenth century, they followed these established pathways. Among the earliest known explorers was John Colter, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, who ventured into the Yellowstone region between 1807 and 1808. Though his exact route remains debated, many historians believe he may have crossed through Union Pass.
In the years that followed, mountain men such as Jedediah Smith, Jim Bridger, William Sublette, and David Jackson traversed the region in search of beaver. These men relied heavily on Native knowledge of the land, including the routes that converged at Union Pass.
One of the earliest organized expeditions to cross near the pass was led by Wilson Price Hunt in 1811. A representative of the Pacific Fur Company, Hunt guided his party westward toward the Columbia River, using the pass as a link between the Wind River and Green River drainages. It is believed that the expedition guides Edward Robinson, John Hoback and Jacob Rizner perhaps crossed Union Pass in 1810 as part of the Henry Expedition. A year earlier, frontiersman Major Andrew Henry, co-owner of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and his associates explored nearby regions, further establishing the area as a corridor of travel and trade, and the headwaters of the Snake River.
Despite its advantages, Union Pass was not destined to become the primary route of westward migration. In the winter of 1823–1824, Jedediah Smith learned of the pass while camped with the Crow near present-day Dubois. Heavy snow made crossing impossible, and he was instead directed to a lower, more accessible route—South Pass. That discovery would shift the course of history, as South Pass became the preferred crossing for wagon trains traveling the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails.
Union Pass, however, remained significant. In 1860, it was formally named by William F. Raynolds during a government survey of the Yellowstone region. Guided by Jim Bridger, Raynolds led an expedition tasked with mapping the terrain, studying its resources, and identifying potential routes for roads and railroads.
Approaching from the Wind River Valley near present-day Riverton, Raynolds’ party encountered formidable snow-covered peaks even in late spring. Bridger famously warned that “a bird can’t fly over that without taking a supply of grub along.” Undeterred, the expedition pressed forward. Raynolds identified a prominent peak as the “topographical center of the continent,” naming it Union Peak, and the nearby crossing Union Pass.
The expedition successfully followed the route through Jackson Hole and into what are now Idaho and Montana, marking the first documented government survey through that region. Yet their findings would not immediately reshape the West. Within ten months, the outbreak of the American Civil War drew military resources eastward, delaying publication of the expedition’s results until 1868—the same year Wyoming became a U.S. territory.
Today, Union Pass remains a remote and often overlooked landmark. Unlike the well-worn emigrant trails, it bears few physical traces of the thousands who once passed through. Yet its significance endures in the story of a nation’s expansion—of ancient pathways, converging rivers, and the enduring human drive to cross boundaries. In recent years, Dubois historian Steve Banks retraced the historic route over Union Pass seeking the route of the Astorians and Raynolds’ party.
As the country reflects on its two and a half centuries of history, Union Pass stands as a reminder that some of the most important roads were never paved, only followed.
By Seth McFarland: Dubois Museum
Next up for the Fremont County Museum
April 18, 9am with the Pioneer Museum, “Garden Expo” Bailey’s Tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
April 25, 1pm at the Pioneer Museum, “Sheep Shearing Day” Bailey’s Tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
May 2, 10am at the Pioneer Museum, “Branding Class” Bailey’s Tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
May 14, 7pm at the Pioneer Museum, “Lander 100 Years Ago” Wyoming Community Bank Discovery Speakers Series
May 14, 6pm at the Riverton Museum, “Cowboy Poetry & Roundtable with Jack Schmidt” Wyoming Community Bank Discovery Speakers Series
May 23, 10am at the Dubois Museum, “Kids Corner: Blacksmithing History” Bailey’s Tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
May 30, 2pm at the Riverton Museum, “Draper Raptor Experience” Bailey’s Tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
Daily through December at the Pioneer Museum, “Sweetwater Ranch Life, The Paintings of Jack Corbett” Exhibition Opening
Rare Relics Road Show: Save the Date: Saturday October 10, 2026 Lander, WY Lander Community Center, You Are Invited!
Call the Dubois Museum 1-307-455-2284, the Pioneer Museum 1-307-332-3339 or the Riverton Museum 1-307-856-2665 for detail regarding their programs.
The Dubois Museum, the Pioneer Museum in Lander and the Riverton Museum need your financial support. In the current economic environment, the museums are more reliant than ever on donations from the private sector to continue to provide the quality programs, collections management, exhibits and services that have become their hallmark over the last four years. Please make your tax deductible contribution through the Wind River Cultural Centers Foundation https://windriverccf.funraise.org/ or by sending a check to Fremont County Museums 450 N 2nd Rm 320 or taking it directly to the museum you choose to support.