National Register of Historic Places

Bad Pass Trail

Warren, Carbon County, Montana
Listed
October 29, 1975
Type
Site
Period
Listed
Ref No.
75000215

About this property

The Bad Pass Trail, also known as the Sioux Trail, was established by Native Americans on the border of present-day Montana and Wyoming as a means of access from the Bighorn Basin in Wyoming to Bison-hunting grounds in the Grapevine Creek area of Montana. Marked by stone cairns, the trail led across Bad Pass and was established in pre-Columbian times. After Europeans arrived in the area it was frequented by fur trappers and mountain men, beginning in 1824. Trappers assembled pack trains at the junction of the Shoshone River and the Bighorn River, using the Bad Pass Trail to avoid Bighorn Canyon. The trail ended at the mouth of Grapevine Creek on the Bighorn, from which the pack train could float down the Bighorn on rafts to the Yellowstone River and then to the Missouri and on to St. Louis. Approximately three hundred cairns are known to exist along the trail, particularly in Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area. The cairns are believed to have been built incrementally, with passer-by placing stones on the pile as a good luck offering. Much of the trail itself has been altered beyond recognition by the construction of an access road for area ranches. The trail runs along the western side of Bighorn Canyon. It is estimated to have been in use for ten to twelve thousand years. The trail features as many as one thousand tipi rings on either side of the trail, some of which have been evaluated by archeologists. The Bad Pass Trail was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 29, 1975.

Location

Warren, Carbon County, Montana
45.06623, -108.25551

Categories

PREHISTORICHISTORIC - ABORIGINALCOMMERCEHISTORIC - NON-ABORIGINALTRANSPORTATION
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Overview
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The Land
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Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back millions of years.
LiDAR Terrain
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Conflict & War
The battles, raids and skirmishes fought near here, across every era of American conflict.
The Civil War
The Civil War on this ground, 1861 to 1865: who held it, and the battles, camps and regiments nearby.
The Soldiers
The men who marched from here in the Civil War, named and traced where the record allows.
Native Heritage
The Native nations who held this land, mapped across time from before European contact to today.
Settlement
Who claimed and held this ground, from Indigenous homelands through the colonial powers to the United States.
The Community
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Rivers & Rail
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Notable People
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Nearby Historic Sites

Ewing-Snell Ranch
Early Republic
1.3 mi
Cedarvale
Listed
2.7 mi
Lockhart, Caroline, Ranch
Industrial
5 mi
Bighorn Ditch Headgate
Industrial
22.7 mi
Fort C. F. Smith Historic District
Early Republic
23.2 mi

Questions about this property

When was Bad Pass Trail listed on the National Register?

Bad Pass Trail was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 29, 1975.

What type of historic resource is Bad Pass Trail?

Bad Pass Trail is classified as a site in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Bad Pass Trail?

The period of significance for Bad Pass Trail is recorded as the listed era.

Can I research the history near Bad Pass Trail?

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