Bridger Pass is a mountain pass

Mountain pass

A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...

 in Carbon County, Wyoming

Carbon County, Wyoming

Carbon County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wyoming. As of 2010, the population was 15,885. Its county seat is Rawlins.- History :Carbon County was organized in 1868....

 on the Continental Divide of the Americas at the south Great Divide Basin

Great Divide Basin

The Great Divide Basin is a drainage basin of the Continental Divide of the Americas. The basin is between the Green River watershed on the west and the Medicine Bow River watershed on the east . From the northwest, the basin begins in the "Wind River Range .....

 bifurcation point.

The first documented crossing of Bridger Pass was by the Stansbury Expedition returning east from an expedition to Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

 and guided by Jim Bridger

Jim Bridger

James Felix "Jim" Bridger was among the foremost mountain men, trappers, scouts and guides who explored and trapped the Western United States during the decades of 1820-1850, as well as mediating between native tribes and encroaching whites...

. A decade later the pass was in regular use by travelers on the Overland Trail

Overland Trail

The Overland Trail was a stagecoach and wagon trail in the American West during the 19th century. While portions of the route had been used by explorers and trappers since the 1820s, the Overland Trail was most heavily used in the 1860s as an alternative route to the Oregon, California and Mormon...

 and stage line which was established along the route described by Stansbury and the Cherokee Trail. The Overland Trail was used steadily between 1860 and 1869 when the First Transcontinental Railroad

First Transcontinental Railroad

The First Transcontinental Railroad was a railroad line built in the United States of America between 1863 and 1869 by the Central Pacific Railroad of California and the Union Pacific Railroad that connected its statutory Eastern terminus at Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska The First...

made the stage line obsolete. To support the stage line, the Bridger Stage Station was established near the pass.