For a long 4 day weekend this fall, we decided to take a short vacation over to Eastern Idaho. We rented an old farmhouse on a ranch outside the tiny town of Grace, ID, for our trip. Three years ago we had passed through the area on our way home and I remember seeing the area was loaded with Oregon Trail history and it would be worth a visit on its own.
Our first stop on our way out, Thursday, was Massacre Rocks State Park. It's one of those places I had driven by a couple dozen times, but never stopped. Oregon-California trail passed right through what is now the state park. It received its name because of the local geology: large volcanic boulders scattered about forced the trail to pass among them. The early pioneers believed it to be a good location to be ambushed by local Indians. Thus they named the place Massacre Rocks. With the exception of a skirmish East of the area in August 1862, these fears never came to life.
We had the park completely to ourselves. We had a couple hours to have a picnic lunch, do a short hike down to the Snake River, and then we had a quick drive to a location at the far Western edge called Register Rock.
Passing emigrants used this giant boulder (and a couple others nearby) as a place to carve their names and dates they passed through. It did seem there were more signatures from the 1860's and up until the 1890s. On another rock, the park staff has a sign explaining an interesting story about a young boy who drew an Indian and a preacher on a rock, then returned years later as an adult.
(Indian Head)
(Preacher)
Another highlight of the trip was visiting the famous geyser in the town of Soda Springs. The entire area has numerous naturally carbonated water springs (some of them being hot as well). In 1937 a developer was drilling underground to try and tap into one of these underground pockets to build a hot spring resort. The developer unintentionally hit a chamber of 70 degree carbonated water that shot 70 feet into the air. The city of Soda Springs installed a cap, and it is now regulated to erupt every hour, 24/7. It still shoots 70 feet into the air, and the duration last for quite a few minutes. It's marketed as the only captive geyser in the world.
Being that the area of Soda Springs has numerous springs, it was known as the "Oregon Trail Oasis" during the Western migration. The NPS has an excerpt from a diary of a woman known as Sarah Smith who traveled the Oregon Trail. She wrote "Traveled . . . along the bank of the bear river & are encamped at Soda Springs. This is indeed a curiosity. The water tastes like soda water, especially artificially prepared. The water is bubbling and foaming like boiling water. I drank of it. . . . We find it excellent for baking bread, no preparation of water is necessary. Take it from the fountain & the bread is as light as any prepared with yeast."
We made a stop at one of these springs that early emigrants stopped at, known as Hooper Springs. A covering is built over the top of the spring and you are able to scoop out some of the carbonated water and drink it. Amber, Addie, and I all tried drinking it. I personally did not enjoy it, but maybe had I added some flavoring it would have been better.
Just outside of Soda Springs, on the Western side, is a little section where you can walk the original wagon trail. I've written on doing this before, for other sections of the Oregon Trail. But it never gets old being able to immerse yourself in the moment of being in the exact place 170 years later.
A final bit of exploring we did on our trip had to do with some of the settler history along this portion of the Bear River. The area is in a valley known as the Gem Valley. Fertile farm fields sit atop layers upon layers of basalt that was laid down during the regions volcanic past. The bear river turns South after passing by Soda Springs, and heads through the Gem Valley, whereupon it descends rapidly into what is known as Black Canyon Gorge. Settlers faced a difficult task: How to move water from down inside a gorge to irrigate farm fields up above. The solution is what is known as the Grace Flume.
A massive underground pipe system was developed and drilled through the solid rock. At this location, the water comes out of the canyon wall and goes across this arch, before continuing on its journey. It's part of the Last Chance Canal. To learn more, visit this link:
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=109914
Finally we made a quick stop downstream by a bridge, just to see this Black Canyon Gorge for ourselves. You're just driving through open farmland and then all of a sudden you're at a very stunning canyon with the Bear River raging down below.
There's definitely more to see and do here; including a visit to Niter Ice Cave, which is just to the south of the town of Grace. Overall it's a very peaceful corner of Idaho that was very enjoyable and relaxing to visit. I'm sure it helped that it was October, as well, but I definitely plan on returning.
