Location: Three Island State Park, ID
Continuing with the Russell 1929 Trek from Missouri to Washington today was mostly about following the Snake River in Idaho. We started out in Utah, near Bringham City where Laurie commented on the garden farms and fruit orchards. Glad to report that there were still plenty of fruit stands and orchards along the road. We opted for Rainer cherries.
The Russells in 1929 stopped at Pocatello, Idaho for people watching and a snack. Laurie reported that they ate "a lot of stuff like milk, rolls, bananas, potato chips and crackers." We also stopped there and ate cherries, jicama, blended mochas, celery with peanut butter for Ned and popcorn for Debi. We also decided to people watch by taking a bike ride thru old town. We saw a lot of old buildings from the 1929 and before time period.
This building was burned out, but it still had below the Baseball Cigar Store banner, the faded advertising on the brick wall that read "Sweets Salt Lake Chocolates are always appreciated."
This is the Carnegie Library that was built in 1907.
The 1929 Russells continued along the Oregon Trail stopping at historical spots and Laurie particularly noted Massacre Rock. We stopped there today read about the "massacre" which occurred in 1862 when 10 pioneers were killed by an Indian Raid. We were more impressed with the geology of the place. In this photo of me with the Snake River behind you can see the indentation in the bluff. This is where over 14,000 years ago water gushed over from the Bonneville Lake. It was the second largest flood in the history of the world! What finally evaporated off is now the Great Salt Lake.
We also went to the Visitor Center and Debi tried on some pioneer garb. Ain't she a cute prairie girl?
In Laurie's journal they stopped at a place called Yale, but it was only midday for us so we decided not to camp, but moved on. My dad, Ocrel (Oak), who was 11 at the time of the trek was told about lava from an ancient volcano and was very interested. On seeing another deposit he said excitedly, "Do you suppose that is some more saliva?"
In honor of my dad we got a picture of me in front of some basalt deposits.
The biggest surprise for us of the day was the Shoshone Falls. We had pretty low expections as we arrived at the falls, and we were amazed at the beauty of the place! In Laurie's journal, she reported that the flow over the falls was minimal due to dams on the Snake River. However, we found the flow was phenomenal. Here's a video we shot of the falls.
Here's a picture of Debi and me next to the falls. It was a really beautiful day there.
Our next stop was at the bridge across the Snake River in Twin Falls. In 1929 it was called the Jerome Bridge and at the time was the highest bridge in the world. It was completed in 1927. Here's a picture we found at the Visitor Center of the bridge with toll booth just after it was completed.
The current bridge which replaced the old bridge in 1976 is called the Perrine Bridge. It is now the 8th highest bridge in the U.S. This is the only place in the U.S. that allows base jumping any day of the year.
The view from the northern side of the bridge is a jaw dropper. If you look closely there is a golf course on both sides.
During the afternoon we saw the Thousand Springs gushing out from the hillsides along the Old Lincoln Highway.
In Laurie's journal she noted "a ford on the Snake River which had been used by emigrants we were glad for the bridge." This is our stopping point for the night. Today it's called Three Island State Park. The emigrants used two of the three islands to cross three channels in the river, but sometimes lost stock and wagons. We plan to cool off in the river tonight, hopefully we will have no losses to report.
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