Stampede Pass (elevation ) is a mountain pass in the northwest United States, through the Cascade Range in Washington. Southeast of Seattle and east of Tacoma, its importance to transportation lies almost entirely with railroading, as no paved roads cross it. It is approximately south-southeast of Snoqualmie Pass, the gap for and south of Keechelus Lake. The pass, and the tunnel to the south which takes advantage of it, the Stampede Tunnel (), just below played a significant role in the history of the Northern Pacific Railway. The tunnel opened for service in May 1888, and is currently operated by the NP's successor, BNSF Railway. After over a decade of dormancy in the late 20th century, the Stampede Pass Line and Tunnel were reopened in 1997 by BNSF, which uses the route as one of two direct Northern Transcon main lines through the Cascades, between Spokane and the Seattle metropolitan area. Discovery of the pass Northern Pacific Railroad had been notified by the federal government that their lack of a direct route from Yakima to the Puget Sound was considered violation of their charter. Faced with losing millions of acres in their land grant, they began earnestly exploring a route over the cascades. The first known discovery of the pass was made by Virgil Bogue, a civil engineer for the Northern Pacific. (Bogue went on to become chief engineer of the Union Pacific Railroad and later the Western Pacific Railroad.) Below is Bogue's report, written in January 1881, from the collection of Robert A. Robey, the Northern Pacific's roadmaster at Auburn, Washington, in charge of the line across Stampede Pass throughout the 1960s. "About January 1, 1881, I received instructions from Colonel Isaac W. Smith to explore Tacoma Pass, which had been discovered by J.T. Sheets in the Autumn previous, and the range to the north of that pass to some point, which would cover all possible passes, that might lead out of the Green River, Washington in that direction. In the Autumn previous, four cabins had been built by a party under Colonel Smith's direction in suitable localities, between Thorpe's Prairie, subsequently known as Supply Camp, and a point four or five miles west of Tacoma Pass. A party of three or four men, well supplied with provisions, had been left at Thorpe's Prairie during the winter, with instructions to be ready for any orders they might receive. When