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The Cumberland Gap is a pass across the Cumberland Mountains region of the Appalachian Mountains , famous in American history for its role as the chief passageway through the mountains for early settlers. It is located just north of the spot where the current-day states of Kentucky , Tennessee and Virginia meet. The pass elevation is 1600 feet (488 meters). The nearby town of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee takes its name from the pass. The Gap was formed as an ancient creek, flowing southward, cut through the land being pushed up to form the mountains. As the land rose even more, the creek reversed direction flowing into the Cumberland River to the north. Used in prehistoric times by migrating animal herds, the Indians used it after their arrival into North America . The gap was named for Prince William Augustus, Duke Of Cumberland who sponsored an expedition into the area in 1750. In 1775, Daniel Boone brought a company of men to cut out a path through the gap to enable a settlement effort by the Transylvania Company in Transylvania . The trail was widened in the 1790s to accommodate wagon traffic. It is estimated that between 200,000 and 300,000 immigrants passed through the gap on their way into Kentucky and the Ohio Valley before 1810. U.S. Highway 25E passed overland through the gap before the completion of the Cumberland Gap Tunnel in 1996 . The original trail was then restored. GEOLOGICAL FEATURES The 12-mile long Cumberland Gap consists of four geologic features: (1) the Yellow Creek valley, (2) the natural gap in the Cumberland Mountain ridge, (3) the eroded gap in the Pine Mountain and (4) the 3-mile diameter impact crater in which Middlesboro, Kentucky is located. Shatter Cones , a type of rock fragment naturally found only during Meteor impact events, were found in abundance. Middlesboro is the only place in the world where Coal is mined inside a meteor crater. Without this crater, it would have been difficult for packhorses to navigate this gap and improbable for wagon roads to be constructed at an early date. Middlesboro in September 2003 was designated by the Kentucky Society of Professional Geologists as a Distinguished Geologic Site. As a result, this site is attracting Geologists and tourists from around the world and will help revive Middlesboro’s economy. (Kortenkamp, 2) Confirmation of the existence of this meteor crater came in 1966 when Robert Diaz discovered Shatter Cones inside sandstones specimens that led to the identification of Shocked Quartz . Special mining techniques must be used in the complicated strata of this crater. It is thought that similar techniques will be used in future mining of planets ( Mars ), satellites ( Moon ) and Asteroids where craters occur in large numbers. (Milam & Kuehn, 36). Cumberland Gap is the main east-west gap in the Appalachian Mountains and is an important segment of the Wilderness Road that Daniel Boone blazed with 35 axmen opening up the western frontiers of Kentucky and Tennessee for the early pioneers and their families. REFERENCES
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