Oregon Trail 1847

Oregon Trail 1847. . In 1847, The Oregon Trail passed by this point where Highway 30 now crosses the Idaho-Wyoming Statelines. Here lies the northern most bend of Bear River in Wyoming before it crosses into Idaho. Skirting wet lands to the north and the south, ruts left by those thousands of wagon wheels carve a long lazy "S" route through the marshy meadow lands one mile westward to the crossing of Thomas Fork River entering from the valley north. Crossing through what are now cultivated barley fields, those ancient wagon tracks can be seen clearly when the fields are prepared for planting. Those thousands of steel clad wheels churned the naturally red-brown sandy soil to shades of gray. , Coming northward from the town of Cokeville in Wyoming, the original right-of-way of Highway 30 closely followed the Old Oregon Trail keeping to higher ground to avoid wetlands fed by the seasonal high water levels with the melting of the snow. In those days, before the diversion of water for irrigation and the building of the Woodruff Narrows Dam on the Bear River, each springtime, water would rise, flooding river banks, cresting usually in the last days of the month of June with high water continuing to mid-July. In 2010, water crested at its highest about June 22. , Always, the fertile bends of the Bear River have been filled with native grasses and willows, wonderful shelters for nesting Canada Geese, hundreds of ducks, grouse and song birds. Mule deer, elk, moose, coyotes, bob-cats and an occasional black bear frequented the area. Now, since men have chosen to destroy the beautiful willows, few birds and animals are to be found.