Another stop in Southern Idaho. I look out across this landscape and it becomes immediately obvious that this is probably exactly how it looked to the Oregon Trail emigrants in the 1800s... with the exception of that highway thingy going through the middle of it... which would definitely have cut some time off their journey; they totally should have used that thing.
Immediately west of here you will cross a small canyon that Oregon Trail Emigrants regarded as their most dangerous exposure to Indians.
After 1854, they had good reason to be alarmed. Wagon traffic had ruined important traditional Indian trails. Uncounted thousands of oxen, horses, sheep and cattle had overgrazed a broad zone along their trail, leading to Indian resentment. Worse yet, a few emigrants had shot enough Indians to provoke a great deal of bitterness. August 9, 1862, Pocatello's Shoshoni band resisted further wagon traffic here, trapping a small emigrant party in a deep gully. An unusually fine stretch of wagon tracks leading to that site can be reached by a marked trail from here.
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