Bozeman Pass

Bozeman Pass (el. 1743 m./5819 ft.) is a mountain pass situated approximately 13 miles east of the town of Bozeman, Montana and approximately 15 miles west of the town of Livingston, Montana, and between the Bridger and Gallatin mountain ranges.

It is named after pioneer John Bozeman, a young Georgian who opened a trail from Fort Laramie, Wyoming to Virginia City, Montana in 1863, via the pass which now bears his name. The pass is part of a transcontinental railroad route that was used by Northern Pacific Railway to connect Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest by rail. The Northern Pacific opened a 3,652 foot tunnel under the Pass in 1884. A shorter 3,015 foot tunnel just north of the original opened in 1945. The line is now used by Montana Rail Link.

Sacagawea, the Shoshone woman who guided parts of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (the Corps of Discovery), led Captain William Clark and his party of ten men through the pass on July 15, 1806. They were eastward bound and planned to explore the Yellowstone River to its mouth, where they were to rejoin Captain Meriwether Lewis and party, who were returning eastward via the Missouri River.