Settlement Along the Trail

Settlement Along the Trail. . The Oregon Trail was not blazed by the first wagon train of emigrants who set out on the journey in 1841. They were following pathways discovered and described by explorers, and mountain men in the early 1800s - pathways traveled for countless years by Native Americans and migrating wildlife. Ancient , earthen-covered lava flows between the Bear River and Fort Hall provided them with a fairly level road for travel through the Upper Portneuf Valley. , Trapper Osborne Russell and fifteen companions spent the winter of 1835-36 at a place called "Mutton Hill" on the Portneuf River. The many hot springs along the Portneuf, combined with a ready supply of bighorn sheep on the rocky hillsides and buffalo in the valley, made this a choice camping spot. , During the 1850s entrepreneurs from Salt Lake City and Fort Hall brought freight wagons filled with merchandise and set up shop along the road. In 1853, emigrants reported that they were hardly out of site of these traders. , In 1863, cattleman Alexander Toponce traveled up the Portneuf Valley from northern Utah, and by the 1870s he was operating a ranch on "Toponce Creek." just across the valley from this spot. , I rented the Fort Hall (Indian) reservation from the Government as a cattle pasture, paying $2,500 a year. I had a piece of land rented forty miles by seventy miles. At times I had as high as 10,000 head of cattle on the land." -- Alexander Toponce , Settlement at this location began with homesteading in 1880, and the establishment of Chesterfield Town in 1883. Most of the main migration along the Oregon Trail had declined, but some hardy souls still made the journey overland. The families of Chesterfield greeted them with hospitality, happy to share the bounty of this beautiful valley where the buffalo once roamed.