Hundreds of thousands of American immigrants once passed through the granite spires of Idaho’s City of Rocks, branching off the Oregon Trail onto the California Trail in search of gold and fertile farmland in Northern California.
WATCH: See evidence of the 250,000 pioneers who once traveled west
From 1843 to 1882, the Oregon and California trails shared the same route through Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming before splitting in the Idaho Territory.
“Up here by Raft River, the California trail broke off and came through Idaho, down into a bit of Utah and then into Nevada and continued on into California,” City of Rocks Ranger Sophia Bates said.
As the nation approaches its 250th birthday, Bates considers what happened along this stretch of trail a landmark achievement in American history…