Lemhi Pass, at elevation 7,323 feet above sea level, is a rounded saddle in the Beaverhead Mountains of the Bitterroot Range, along the Continental Divide, between Montana and Idaho. Here, in 1805, the Lewis and Clark expedition first saw the headwaters of the Columbia River, which flow to the Pacific Ocean, and crossed what was then the western boundary of the United States.
Lemhi Pass was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 for its significance to the Lewis and Clark expedition. It was a point of hopeful anticipation, as the "Corps of Discovery" looked forward to meeting the Shoshone and trading for horses to continue their journey, and a point of disappointment as it became obvious that a navigable waterway to the West Coast would not be found among these rugged mountains.
