Pequop Mountains
The Pequop Mountains are located in eastern Elko County, in northeastern Nevada in the western United States. The range runs generally north-south for approximately 51 miles (82 km). The high point of the range is an unnamed peak (9249 feet, 2819 m) located at 40°55.46'N and 114°35.38'W.
The range is comprised of two distinct groups of mountains, separated by a low line of hills at Flower Pass. To the west is Independence Valley and the East Humboldt Range, while to the east is Goshute Valley and the Toano Range. The southern section of the range, bending slightly to the southwest, essentially merges with Spruce Mountain, and is the location of the Southern Pequop Wilderness Study Area.
These mountains are a serious obstacle to travel between the more level terrain of the Great Salt Lake Desert and the Humboldt River Valley. The First Transcontinental Railroad was routed around the north end of the range, on its way to Promontory Summit in Utah. The later Southern Pacific Railroad line, which crosses the Great Salt Lake Desert, tunnelled through the range at Flower Pass. Interstate 80 crosses the northern section of the range at 6967-foot (2123 m) Pequop Summit, its highest point between the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming and the Sierra Nevada Range of California.
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Your information that the Southern Pacific Railroad tunneled through the Peqoups at Flower Lake Summit is incorrect. The mile long tunnel was constructed by the Western Pacific Railroad in 1908-1909. Additionally, this same crossing of the Peqoups was part of the Hasting Cutoff, the detour from the California Trail between western Wyoming and just west of Elko, NV. In use from 1846 until approximately 1852 it was found not to be the "short-cut" purported to be by Langsford Hastings and was abandoned. This is the route taken by the ill-fated Donner Party in 1846 as well as expeditions by John C. Fremont in the mid-1840's.
Correction: The first name of the individual referred to above is Lansford, not Langsford.