Last spring, I saw this group of White Pelicans involved in cooperative foraging near Island Park, Idaho. All About Birds describes their feeding behavior as follows:
They forage by swimming on the surface, dipping their bills to scoop up fish, then raising their bills to drain water and swallow their prey. They also forage cooperatively: groups of birds dip their bills and flap their wings to drive fish toward shore, corraling prey for highly efficient, synchronized, bill-dipping feasts.
Do you know what a group of pelicans are called? They are called a squadron, pod, pouch, or scoop of pelicans.
You can find comfortable seating inside the water and out at Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. You also get some great views of the Portneuf Range mountains behind the pools.
See one of my previous posts about Lava Hot Springs for more details on this attraction. It was one of my favorite hot springs of several we visited last summer.
While camping at Three Island Crossing State Park in Glenns Ferry, Idaho, I visited the Oregon Trail History & Education Center. Many pioneers traveling on the Oregon Trail crossed the Snake River on their way west at this site. Settlers learned to overcome the emotional and physical obstacles they encountered along the Trail with resilience and perseverance.
Near the center’s entrance, you’ll pass a couple wagons beneath a shelter. A reader board refers to them as “Motor Homes Without Motors.” They had to be lightweight, yet sturdy enough to survive the 2,000-mile journey across the country. The wagons carried many tools and treasures, but more importantly, the hopes and dreams of settlers looking for a better way of life.
This visitor center’s interactive and informative displays impressed me. I liked how it highlighted this area from different perspectives in the past and present.
Crossing the Snake River
Crossing here was dangerous, but it was shorter than the South Alternate route. The southern route passed through dry, rocky environments that were difficult to endure. There was also less potable water and feed for livestock along that route.
Though fur trappers and early explorers traveled this route beginning in 1811, most pioneers took this route from 1841 to 1848.
Pioneers used this route until 1869, when Gus Glenn constructed a ferry crossing two miles upstream. This display describes Ferryman Gustavus (Gus) P. Glenn. He was a colorful local, known as a rugged individualist.
Glenn married a Native American woman named Jenny and turned down the possibility of marrying a Euro-American when more settlers moved into the area. He noted, “She was good enough for me then and she’s good enough for me now.”
The original Oregon trail began in Independence, Missouri, and ended in Oregon City, Oregon. This map shows the various routes settlers traveled west after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
Native Americans in Oregon Trail History
Several of the displays featured artifacts related to the lives of Native Americans. One of the first displays shows the hunting and gathering way of life experienced by Indians of the Snake River Plain.
Indigenous people have lived in this area for thousands of years. The local environment is challenging, but they learned how to be resilient.
The figure shown below is of a woman with a digging stick.
Native peoples often dug up and collected camas bulbs.
Bulbs, seeds, and other food items were ground with stone mortars and pestles.
People wove baskets for different purposes. The photograph in this display case shows a tightly woven basket used for carrying water.
People used loosely woven baskets to gather things like roots and berries.
This display shows a spear and net used for catching salmon.
Once horses became available to Native people, hunting and trading practices changed dramatically. Horse ownership became a status symbol, with wealthier people collecting large herds of horses.
I liked this quote from the local Northern Paiute tribe.
This display shows a cutaway view of a teepee and describes the many hardships Native Americans endured on reservations.
Settlers moving into the West
Other displays in this center focus on settlers moving west as part of their “Manifest Destiny.” This 19th century belief stated that American settlers were destined by God to claim lands across North America. Its purpose was “to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across the entire North American continent.”
Unfortunately, that often meant forcing Native Americans off their ancestral lands. Thousands died from starvation and disease after being forcibly marched to distant reservations.
The U.S. population rose dramatically from 5 million people in 1800, to over 23 million by 1850.
Newspapers described an easy route with “no obstruction in the whole route.” Journals of those who traveled the route described a far different situation where “hills ware dreadful steep” and “the desert is very hard on the poor animals.”
I found this packing list interesting. If travelers lost the ox pulling their wagons, they abandoned many items shown on this list beside the road.
Since the oxen used along the route were so valuable, travelers would do anything they could to save them. This scene shows three people trying to pull a downed ox to its feet.
This is a typical covered wagon, shown with the back down as food is prepared.
These two cases show some toys and tools of children traveling the trail. They were expected to help with chores, but also had time to play games, go fishing or target shooting, and to collect wildflowers.
At first, relationships between Natives and settlers were friendly. They traded valuable items. Native peoples helped them along the route. “The Indians helped us a great deal, raking over the carts, swimming the animals, &c …” As more settlers flocked to the area, the relations changed. Native American, Hispanic, and non-European residents suffered greatly during this period of expansion.
Voices of the present at Oregon Trail History & Education Center
These photos are of contemporary residents of Glenns Ferry, Idaho.
Daryl Kirk commented on past competitions between cultures and said we need “to get together and do things together and to forget about the bad part of the past.”
Donna Carnahan remembered how her grandfather, who settled there in 1890, spoke of often playing with the resident Indian children.
Terry Gibson noted how his people comforted the emigrants. The people and their animals were in bad shape after all they had suffered along the trail. He said, “Our people were here to help them, and our children need to learn that. I think with the Crossing here, there’s an opportunity to provide healing for both cultures.”
The Oregon Trail History & Education Center is small, but worth a visit. It has a nice gift store near the entrance.
To learn more about the Oregon Trail, consider visiting the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City, Oregon. After being closed for four years, the Center recently reopened following significant renovations and updates. I posted about this attraction prior to the renovations.
The hot pools of the Lava Hot Spring tourist attraction are in the city of Lava Hot Springs in southeastern Idaho. Four blocks from the hot pools, you’ll find a water park and indoor and outdoor swimming pools, also heated by hot spring waters.
Swooping red sunshades over the hot pools offer visitors shelter from the sun.
The five outdoor pools in the Hot Pool site have water temperatures ranging from 102 to 112 degrees Fahrenheit. Lava Hot Springs uses over 2.5 million gallons of hot spring water per day to heat their pools.
The dramatic cloud formations caught my attention in this Soda Springs scene.
Soda Springs is a small city in Idaho known for its geyser and mineral springs. The Soda Springs Geyser is on a timed release valve and it goes off once an hour. Yes, really!
This large mural is inside the National Oregon/California Trail Center in Montpelier, Idaho. The mural is by artist Gary Stone. While researching the painting, Stone traveled parts of the pioneer trail crossing Idaho and nearby states.
Gary Stone read emigrant journals and diaries and depicted what travelers experienced along the trail. You can tell he put his heart into getting the scenes shown right.
I saw this abandoned building on a corner in Howe, Idaho. Though I could not learn the history of this specific building, I learned a well-known historical figure spent part of his life nearby.
The Little Lost River, located north and east of this site, was once known as “John Day’s River” or “Day’s River.” In 1810, the John Jacob Astor Pacific Fur Company set out to establish a base of operations at the mouth of the Columbia River. They made many discoveries along the way while searching for the easiest routes of travel. John Day, an experienced hunter and trapper, was a member of the party.
John Day’s travels
The group, led by Wilson Price Hunt, divided into four parties when food became scarce. John Day became ill and was left behind with Ramsay Crooks on the shores of the Snake River. The two men eventually made their way to the mouth of the Mah-Mah River, where it joins the Columbia. At that site, the two were robbed of all their belongings and stripped naked by Natives. Because of this incident, the river was renamed the John Day River. Crooks and Day were rescued days later by Robert Stuart, of the Pacific Fur Company, and taken to Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River.
