Kelton Road

Kelton Road. The Oregon Trail. After the transcontinental railroad was completed on May 10, 1869, new stage and freight routes were established to connect southwester Idaho with newly established railheads. , Kelton, Utah, soon became the main shipping point for Boise, when John Hailey established a stage line between the two points. He connected Boise with Kelton along a route that had been opened from Salt Lake City to Boise in 1836 by freighters and which largely followed the Oregon Trail in southern Idaho. Hailey maintained nineteen stage stations on the 232-mile route and operated on a 42-hour schedule. Many freighters soon followed Hailey's lead, and the route received heavy traffic until the completion of the Oregon Short Line railway across southern Idaho in 1884. , Increased use of the Kelton route created the need for better roads and grades to accommodate heavy freight wagons and stagecoaches. The Kelton ramp, one-half mile west of here, is an excellent example of nineteenth-century road construction. The stacked rock used for the road base is a testament to the ingenuity and hard work of early-day road builders. , Prior to the Kelton Road, wagons navigated steep natural breaks in the cliff to get down to the Boise River. One on the rim 300 yards east of here was the first point to get water.