Today I visited Farewell Bend State Park in eastern Oregon and I came close to the site of the first Fort Boise near Parma, Idaho. Fort Boise, which apparently was located on the West side of the river in what is now the state of Oregon was in an area of the Snake River with dozens of Islands. The Oregon Trail crossing there was treacherous, which led to the establishment of Olds Ferry downriver. On the Idaho side there is a neglected marker pointing across the river with a Union Jack and a beaver head on it. The OT loosely followed the Snake for over 320 miles as it wound through what is now Idaho, but then was the Oregon Territory. This trip took an enormous toll on both the people and the Oxen that were pulling the wagons. So it was “farewell” to the Snake as they “set forth across the sagebrush steppes of eastern Oregon.” (from The Oregon Trail, Transforming the West, brochure, American Adventures Press, Portland, 2017).
Quicktrips 