Twin Springs Historic Site

Twin Springs Historic Site. Curlew National Grassland. Twin Springs is an oasis amid rolling hills of sagebrush; or as the early pioneers described "an endless sea of Artemisia". Wildlife, birds and people are drawn to Twin Springs' still water and rich grasses. Indigenous people traveled this valley with the buffalo thousands of years ago. The springs served as a reliable watering spot for the nomadic bands moving between the Inland Sea (Great Salt Lake) and the Camass prairie to the north. , In 1849, Benoni Hudspeth and John Meyers believed that there was a shorter route to the Sierra Nevada goldfields; they pioneered a western cutoff between Soda Springs and City of Rocks for the legions of immigrants heading south to California. The short-cut proves more difficult and saved only twenty-five miles of travel over the previous northwest Fort Hall route. In the rush to the gold fields, miners and other immigrants took the new "Hudspeth Cutoff" by the thousands between 1849 and 1859. The trail was abandoned with the coming of the railways and the wagon road established between Salt Lake and the Montana gold mines through Marsh Valley and Eagle Rock; the same route as today's I-15 corridor. Twin Springs is managed by the Caribou-Targhee National Forest and still serves as a green stop-over for wildlife, birds and people. , The Curlew National Grassland is a patch-work of lands in the Arbon and Curlew Valleys, "bought back" by the federal government between 1934 and 1942 from former homestead lands, The Grassland is managed by the Caribou-Targhee National Forest. The lands are managed for sustainable range, recreation and wildlife habitat. Please keep this area clean for the next traveler and do not pick up or disturb artifacts or other historic objects. In an emergency call 911. The Westside Ranger District can be reached at 208.236.7500. The district office is located in Pocatello, ID at 4350 Cliffs Drive, office hours are Monday thru Friday from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, closed federal holidays.