Devil's Gate, Wyoming
Steven Dutch, Professor Emeritus, Natural and Applied Sciences, Universityof Wisconsin - Green Bay
Devil's Gate is a remarkable example of superposed or antecedent drainage.The Sweetwater River cuts a narrow 100-meter deep slot through a granite ridge,yet had it flowed less than a kilometer to the south, it could have bypassed theridge completely. The gorge was cut because the landscape was originally buriedby valley fill sediments. The river cut downward and when it hit granite, kepton cutting. It was a matter of pure chance that the river hit the buried ridgewhere it did.
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Left and below: Devil's Gate and Independence Rock were prominent landmarks on the Oregon Trail. In many places the wheel ruts of the Oregon Trail are still visible. In other places the Trail is still in use. |
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Neither Independence Rock nor nearby Devil's Gate are visible from
a distance. Both are examples of exhumed topography, and not until you
drop into the Sweetwater River valley can they be seen. Here is the
first view of Devil's Gate. Independence Rock is still hidden to the
left.
Distant views from the northeast are actually the most informative, because it becomes very clear that the ridge through which Devil's Gate is cut was originally buried by the modern valley fill sediments. |
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View of Devil's Gate from the summit of Independence Rock. The gap, seen obliquely, is just above the tiny white building just left of center at the base of the ridge. |
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View of the mountains north of Devil's Gate from the summit of Independence Rock |
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Approaching the end of the ridge. |
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Left: Oblique view of Devil's Gate from the south.
Below: views of Devil's Gate from the southwest. |
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View of the Sweetwater valley from the southwest. |
A couple of kilometers southwest of Devil's Gate is a highway rest stop.There is a placard describing Devil's Gate and trails leading to it. Thepanorama below is taken from this site.
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Created 7 April 2003, Last Update 06 June 2020