Jeffreys-Goodale Route

In 1854, John Thomas Jeffreys opened a new emigrant route across Idaho. This route crossed the Snake River above Fort Hall, looped around what is now Craters of the Moon National Monument, crossed the Camas Prairie and the Danskin Mountains before rejoining the main Oregon Trail on Ditto Creek about 25 miles southeast of Boise.

The emigrants of 1854 broke the trail on the new route and suffered from several attacks by Indians. In late August, a small wagon train was attacked a mile west of Little Camas Creek, killing three emigrants. The next day, the Ward wagon train was attacked along the Boise River near Middleton. A possible third attack may have occurred that summer as the remains of a massacred wagon train were discovered in 1862 when the route was next utilized.

More info:

• Overland Journal, Winter 2018: John Thomas Jeffreys
• Overland Journal, Fall 2020: Part 1, Jeffreys Route Across Idaho
• Overland Journal, Winter 2020: Part 2, Attacks on Wagon Trains