Golden Gate Canyon

Golden Gate Canyon

Looking north into Golden Gate Canyon
Location Yellowstone National Park, Park County, Wyoming
Floor elevation 6,496 feet (1,980 m)
Geography
Coordinates 44°56′12″N 110°43′21″W / 44.93667°N 110.72250°W / 44.93667; -110.72250Coordinates: 44°56′12″N 110°43′21″W / 44.93667°N 110.72250°W / 44.93667; -110.72250[1]

Golden Gate Canyon is in the northwestern region of Yellowstone National Park in the U.S. state of Wyoming.[1] Glen Creek flows north through the canyon en route to the Gardner River descending from 7,400 feet (2,300 m) at Kingman Pass to just under 6,000 feet (1,800 m) in less than 3 miles (4.8 km). The northern portion of the Grand Loop Road traverses the canyon, connecting Mammoth Hot Springs with park features to the south.[2]

A road was first built through the Golden Gate in 1884-85, replacing a steep, difficult road over Snow Pass. The construction was directed by U.S. Army Lieutenant Dan Christie Kingman. The canyon's name Golden Gate was first documented by Kingman in his reports to the Department's of the Army and Interior as what visitors to the park called the canyon and pass because of the yellow hue of the rocks in the area.[3] The work included a wooden trestle where a cliff face precluded grading.[4] In 1900 the viaduct was rebuilt as a concrete structure under the supervision of Captain Hiram M. Chittenden. Chittenden's viaduct was replaced in turn in 1930-34, the outcome of a program to widen the road.[5] The widened viaduct was itself replaced in 1977.[6]

Widening of the Chittenden viaduct, 1933
Golden Gate Tunnel, now collapsed and abandoned, in 1933

References

  1. 1 2 "Golden Gate Canyon". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2011-02-12.
  2. ↑ "Mammoth, WY" (Map). USGS Quad. TopoQuest. Retrieved 2011-02-12.
  3. ↑ "Part One: The History of the Construction of the Road System in Yellowstone National Park, 1827-1966 and the History of the Grand Loop and the Entrance Roads, CHAPTER II: THE GENESIS OF NATIONAL PARK ROAD STANDARDS 1883-1890". National Park Service. Retrieved 2012-06-21.
  4. ↑ Haines, Aubrey L. (1996). The Yellowstone Story: A History of Our First National Park. University Press of Colorado. p. 215. ISBN 0-87081-390-0.
  5. ↑ Haines, pp.225-227
  6. ↑ "Yellowstone's Golden Gate". Yellowstone Online Tours. National Park Service. Retrieved 13 February 2011.


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