Alexander Ross

The large brigade was a moving camp. It left Flathead Post, in present Montana, on February 10, 1824, with 54 men, 231 horses, 206 traps and 62 guns, and many of its trappers were Iroquois working on their own account. In the first weeks an Iroquois leader, John Grey, came to Ross's lodge to say that he and ten others would turn back rather than dig through snow and make roads, and Ross warned that the expedition could fail without them. The country the sign calls unexplored was Shoshone country, crossed on trails long before Ross reached this summit.

What the plaque says

Alexander Ross Searching the mountain wilderness for beaver, Alexander Ross came up Wood River and discovered this summit, Sept. 18, 1824. Leading a large brigade of Hudson's Bay Company trappers, he wondered whether he ever could get through unknown mountains and rocky defiles that obstructed his passage back to his base of operations at present Challis. Unwilling to turn back, he pressed on to explore Stanley Basin and the difficult canyon beyond. When he reached Challis, Oct. 6, he had traveled this highway route from Bellevue to Salmon, mostly through unexplored land. 302 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Galena Summit Overlook — 1.7 mi
  The Salmon River's first miles, seen from an overlook named for the couple who helped keep a mine out of the view.

More markers nearby

• Galena — 2.3 mi
• Salmon River — 2.3 mi
• Vienna — 4.4 mi
• Sawtooth City — 6.5 mi