Immence ranges of high mountains still to the West

In mid-August 1805, Lewis and three other members of the Corps of Discovery had left the main group behind in search of native inhabitants of the area, heading toward Beaverhead Rock. On August 12, this small group came to Lemhi Pass, a two-mile span stretching across the present-day border between Montana and Idaho. Nestled among these mountains and bridging the gap between the ranges of the Rockies, Lemhi Pass maintains its unobtrusive, yet momentous, place in our nation's history. As they ventured westward, the party came across some of the most imposing landscapes that they had ever encountered--peaks upon jagged peaks as far as the eye could see. The crossing of this pass--the Continental Divide, a ridge extending North and South along the Rocky Mountains' Beaverhead Range--would prove one of the greatest achievements of Lewis and Clark's expedition to the West Coast. The first Americans to do so, the crew officially left United States territory, journeyed into disputed lands claimed by various European powers and reaffirmed their desire to reach the Pacific Ocean. Lewis and his men also came to the westernmost reaches of the now less than mighty Missouri River. - NPS