Day 39 - Lava Hot Springs to Heyburn, Idaho - 112 Miles

For the past couple of days, Concetta and I have been exploring part of America that we've never visited: southern Idaho. Yes, we've been up north to visit the Craters of the Moon National Park. And once we tried to drive still further north to visit Pete Blackmore, an old co-worker of mine from my print-shop days, in his adopted home town of Harrison, Idaho, near Coeur d'Alene. But for some reason we've just never felt the need to visit places like Montopelier, Soda Springs, or Pocatello in Idaho.

Coming to southern Idaho had not initially been a conscious choice. Concetta said she preferred not to drop down into Utah from Rock Springs, Wyoming, because she didn't care for the hot ride across the infamous salt flats. When I studied the map it appeared that if I wanted to avoid Utah, I had to trend in a northwestern direction. This decision meant we either had to go somewhat northwest on Highway 30 to Pocatello, or we had to go radically northwest which would inevitably take us to someplace like Jackson, Wyoming, just south of the Grand Tetons before entering Idaho near the Caribou Targhee National Forest west of Jackson.

I decided that getting anywhere near the southern entrance to Yellowstone Park could mean overly crowded highways, solidly-booked camps, and just too many people everywhere we wanted to visit. Therefore, Route 30 to Pocatello looked like the best and most intelligent route to take. And, as I said, we'd never been over that stretch of highway before. Who knew what we would find?

Well, as I've related in previous blogs, choosing Route 30 turned out to be an incredibly good idea. We hadn't traveled too many miles along the route before we became aware that we were traveling that famous highway of the 19th century, the Oregon/California Trail!

Anyone who has studied western history for as many years as I have knows about the emigrant trails. How many people currently living on the Pacific Coast might have been born in a vastly different place had not some plucky group of their ancestors sold all they had and set out from the Missouri River in a white-topped prairie schooner? My own ancestors, the Daleys, were just one family out of tens of thousands who came west in the 1840s.

Still, since I was born in California I was always more interested in the California Trail then I was with the Oregon Trail. In other words, I knew it was somewhere northwest of southern Wyoming, but I never studied the actual route very closely.

I have found this journey from Rock Springs, Wyoming to Pocatello, Idaho to be a huge learning experience for me. The country is beautiful beyond belief, both naturally and agriculturally. Plus, the roadside geology is fascinating, and includes everything from starkly black volcanic lava flows dozens of feet thick, to multicolored sedimentary deposits that tower above the highway. Today, while hiking down to the Snake River from a nearby roadside rest, we even found a chunk of volcanic ash that we only just learned about during a recent visit to the Fossil Butte National Monument near the Idaho/Wyoming border.

One well-known historic place that I have read about for many years in conjunction with the overland trails system is Fort Hall. I knew from my reading that Fort Hall marked the decision point for many people as it was there that pioneers had to choose between heading for Oregon, or turning southwest toward California.

So yesterday when I looked for points of interest close to Pocatello, Fort Hall is the first name that jumped out at me. Once I researched, I found that the real site of Fort Hall is some 11 miles west of Pocatello on the Blackfoot, Bannock, Shoshone reservation. While this site is not accessible except by prearranged tours, a reconstructed replica of the fort is available for visit right in Pocatello.

Finding the fort turned out to be quite easy and sufficient signage was available on Interstate 15. We were a bit disappointed with the lack of parking available for large RVs, but since we were the only RV present, we just parked in the driveway and left enough room for others to get past us.

It turned out that the replica of Fort Hall exceeded all my expectations. The exterior of the structure was stuccoed adobe and the interior was made up of rough-timbered buildings, roofed with shake shingles. The north side of the Fort contained two-story buildings as well as a corner blockhouse. Low, single-story structures occupied the other three sides, including a blacksmith shop, a farrier, a meat-cutters shop, a leather shop, a carpenter shop, and sutlers store. The two-story section, which originally contained living quarters, was in use largely for museum displays. The museum display on the American Indians was especially nice.

There were dozens of placards explaining the history of the Fort which I dutifully photographed, one by one, in order that I might relate the history on the blog. I only belatedly discovered that the museum sold a small booklet in which they had accumulated all the museum's descriptive texts in one place. So, I bought the booklet for future reference.

But in order to save myself hours of transcribing for the blog, here's a condensed version of the history of the Fort I found at https://www.legendsofamerica.com/id-forthall/:

"The fur trading post of Fort Hall was founded by Nathaniel J. Wyeth, an opportunistic New England businessman who dreamed of exploiting the natural resources of the Oregon country. After an exploratory expedition in 1832-33, he returned the next year. Near the confluence of the Snake and Portneuf Rivers in southeastern Idaho, he built Fort Hall, a stockade of cottonwood logs with two blockhouses. But he found he could not compete with the powerful Hudson’s Bay Company, which the same year built a rival post, Old Fort Boise (Snake Fort), Idaho, 260 miles to the west at the confluence of the Boise and Snake Rivers."

"Around 1837 the Hudson’s Bay Company purchased Fort Hall from Wyeth, reconstructed it with adobe, and enlarged it considerably. It became a center of the Rocky Mountain fur trade and was such a lucrative enterprise that the Hudson’s Bay Company maintained it until approximately 1856, or a decade after the United States acquired full rights to the Oregon country from Great Britain. The post served an acculturative role among the inter-mountain tribes similar to that of Fort Union Trading Post, North Dakota, Fort Laramie, Wyoming, and Bent’s Old Fort, Colorado among the Plains Indians."

"Occupying a prime location only 50 miles northeast of the point where the Oregon-California Trail forked to Oregon and California, Fort Hall in 1842-43 became a major way station and supply point for emigrants and travelers. Dr. Marcus Whitman, Reverend Henry H. Spalding, and Father Pierre Jean De Smet stopped there at various times. So did the explorer John C. Fremont in 1843, while probing the Far West. He recommended establishment of a permanent military post at the spot to supply emigrants and protect them from the Indians. The Army never acted on his proposal, but troops later frequently camped at the fur post site or its vicinity."

In 1849 the Loring Expedition of Mounted Riflemen from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, establishing posts along the Oregon Trail, founded Cantonment Loring, often incorrectly known as Fort Hall, about three miles up the Snake River from the fur trading post. Loring left two companies to erect a permanent post and proceeded to Fort Vancouver, Washington. A shortage of forage and provisions, however, caused the abandonment of the cantonment the next May."

"A decline in trade and increasing Indian hostilities led the Hudson’s Bay Company to discontinue operations at Fort Hall sometime around 1856. For a few years itinerant traders sometimes lived in the crumbling buildings. In 1859-60 and 1863 Regulars and Oregon Volunteers camped there while patrolling the trail. A flood in the latter year destroyed much of the fort. During the 1860’s and 1870’s overland stage and mail lines used the site, a key road junction, as a base. So, too, did freighters hauling supplies to mining camps in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana."

"In 1865-66, slightly to the north of the Fort Hall site, Oregon Volunteers protecting the Oregon Trail maintained temporary Camp Lander. For materials, they may have utilized log and adobe scraps from the old fort. Federal troops returned to the area in 1870, but they established a new post, also named Fort Hall, 25 miles to the northeast."

"The fur post site is on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. A small monument stands about 50 yards from the edge of American Falls Reservoir. The only surface remains are low earth mounds outlining the fort’s walls. Except for the waters of the reservoir, the natural scene is relatively unchanged. The sites of the nearby posts of Cantonment Loring and Camp Lander, often confused with Fort Hall, have not been ascertained."

"The old fort site is located in Bannock County, Idaho, just off an unimproved road, about 11 miles west of the town of Fort Hall. Though there are no remains at the original site of Fort Hall, a replica fort was built in Pocatello, Idaho in the 1960’s. The Fort Hall Replica is a reproduction of the original Hudson’s Bay Fort, based on plans obtained from the Hudson’s Bay Company and extensive research based on early descriptions of the Fort from persons who lived at or visited the Fort."

Concetta and I were enjoying our visit to Fort Hall so much, that the morning completely slipped away, especially since we also visited the Bannock County Historical Museum, which adjoins the Fort on the same piece of property. Before we knew it, the noon hour had arrived and we decided to find a more quiet place to have lunch since earth moving equipment was hard at work right next door.

My intention after lunch was to find Interstate 86, which parallels the old Oregon Trail, and cruise that all the way across Idaho. As fate would have it, we almost immediately stumbled upon Route 86, moved left and took the turnoff, and were soon rolling west toward the far horizon. Before long we had found a nice stretch of farmland, full of potatoes we thought, and we pulled in had a nice quiet lunch. Concetta said that it would have been better if our lunch spot hadn't been right across the Interstate from a large fertilizer factory (bottom photo), but other than that, she had no complaints.

Tomorrow we'll be heading west, watching for the ubiquitous brown signs announcing points of interest for the Oregon Trail, and just generally enjoying the fabulous blue skies, fluffy clouds, and emerald-green fields of potatoes and alfalfa. Whatever we find, we're certain that it will be an exciting discovery. And if you decide that it's time to hit the road and visit places you've always wanted to see, we wish you exciting destinations and memorable travels from the Davises, the Happy Wanderers.