Beginning in the 1850s, armed skirmishes broke out between Shoshone Indians and emigrants traveling by wagon train to the west. Many pioneers tried new paths through Idaho that would avoid the Snake River, where they were most vulnerable to attack. Most travelers chose Goodale's Cutoff, named for Tim Goodale, an early guide on the route. In this area, the cutoff ran along the base of the Pioneer Mountains about a mile north of here.
To avoid crossing the lava fields the emigrants funneled through a narrow passage between treacherous lava flows and the steep mountains. One driver related, "When some steep point or bluff would run out into the rock, we would expect to see our wagons smashed." Most emigrants, however, passed through unharmed.
Portions of the trail are covered by the modern highway, but remnants are visible and marked with white markers in many locations.
It was a desolate, dismal scenery. Great must have been the relief of the volcano, powerful the emetic that poured fourth such a mass of black vomit. Julius Caesar Merrill, 1864
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