“Our camp was near what is called the Split in the Rock, a remarkable cleft in the top of the mountain which can be seen at a great distance in either direction.” “The picture was worthy the pencil of an artist,” William Carter wrote late in 1857. The relatively gentle landscape offered them a short, but much needed, respite in their long journey.Įmigrants were struck by the rock’s beauty, too. Rising some 1,000 feet above the sagebrush prairie, Split Rock aimed westbound emigrants directly at South Pass, still more than 75 miles away. Travelers today will find a good view of Split Rock-visible here on the horizon- from a historical marker on U.S. “esterday,” Joseph Middleton wrote in 1849, “from the time we started we steered to this cliff with a steadiness that was astonishing, never deviating from it more than the needle does from the north pole, excepting once for a short time-I think this cleft or rent or chasm is very conspicuously seen from the Devil’s Gate, which I think is 11 miles from here and I think it is still at least 6 or 8 miles ahead. Some emigrants on the Oregon, California and Mormon trails-all one road at this point-found this landmark in the Rattlesnake Range a useful navigational tool as they made their way west up the Sweetwater. Pioneer photographer William Henry Jackson made these two pictures in 1870, when he camped near Split Rock with members of the Hayden Survey. The last of these, Split Rock, with its unforgettable gunsight notch, was visible to emigrants for two days or more as they approached and then left it behind them. The Sweetwater Valley contains three distinctive granite landmarks: Independence Rock, Devil’s Gate and Split Rock.
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