Pacific Creek is a stream in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

. The approximately 36 miles (57.9 km) long stream rises on the western side of South Pass

South Pass

South Pass is two mountain passes on the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Wyoming. The passes are located in a broad low region, 35 miles broad, between the Wind River Range to the north and the Oregon Buttes and Great Divide Basin to the south, in southwestern Fremont...

 and flows into the Little Sandy Creek near Farson, Wyoming

Farson, Wyoming

Farson is a census-designated place in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 242 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Farson is located at ....

. As the name implies, the stream starts just to the west of the Continental Divide

Continental Divide

The Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Gulf of Division or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain...

 and so is on the "Pacific

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

" side of the divide. The waters from the stream eventually flow into the Pacific ocean via the Green River

Green River (Utah)

The Green River, located in the western United States, is the chief tributary of the Colorado River. The watershed of the river, known as the Green River Basin, covers parts of Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. The Green River is long, beginning in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming and flowing...

 and Colorado River

Colorado River

The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...

. The stream is a notable landmark on the Oregon

Oregon Trail

The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between.After 1840 steam-powered riverboats and steamboats traversing up and down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers sped settlement and development in the flat...

, California

California Trail

The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California...

 and Mormon

Mormon Trail

The Mormon Trail or Mormon Pioneer Trail is the 1,300 mile route that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveled from 1846 to 1868...

 emigration trails.

History

South Pass was first discovered by white settlers in 1812, and was crossed by the first wagon trains in 1832. Pacific Creek was the first water that the trains encountered after leaving the Sweetwater River

Sweetwater River

Sweetwater River may refer to:*Sweetwater River , a river in San Diego County, California, USA*Sweetwater River , a river in Natrona County, Wyoming, USA...

at Burnt Ranch on the eastern side of the pass. Many wagon trains took the opportunity to camp and refresh at Pacific Springs which is the first significant feeder into Pacific Creek. After leaving Pacific Creek, the wagon trains entered a dry stretch of the trail with the next good water nearly 40 miles (64.4 km) away at the Green River.