Horse Shoe Bend

John Hailey had run the first saddle train from Walla Walla to the Boise Basin in 1863, 285 miles, and in June 1864 he moved his base to Umatilla to run stages from there. With the river below and the climb ahead, Horseshoe Bend became one of the staging grounds for the Basin mines. Hailey went on to the territorial delegate's seat in Congress and the wardenship of the penitentiary, and in 1907 became the first secretary and librarian of the State Historical Society, the body whose text is on these signs. The town of Hailey carries his name.

What the plaque says

Horse Shoe Bend Gold was struck in Boise Basin (over the ridge to the east) in 1862, and the rush to these new mines came through here. Traffic came by steamer up the Columbia to Umatilla, and thence overland. At first there were only pack and saddle trains, but in 1864, John Hailey, famous Idaho pioneer, ran stages this way, and a toll road up Harris Creek was opened shortly. Though other routes to the Basin also developed, freighters continued to come through Horse Shoe Bend for many years. 278 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Banks and the North Fork Payette — 12 mi
  Where the Payette's two forks meet, below fifteen miles of continuous Class V whitewater beside the highway.
• Pon Yam House — 19 mi
  The store of Idaho City's king merchant, where the Chinese of the Boise Basin bought cuttlefish, incense and firecrackers.
• Idaho State Capitol — 20 mi
  Walls hauled from the prison quarry, heat pumped from 3,000 feet down, and its newest rooms built underground.
• Basque Block — 21 mi
  A merchant's 1864 brick house became the boardinghouse where herders from the Basque Country found beds, meals and their own language.

More markers nearby

• Black Canyon Dam — 12 mi
• Freezeout Hill — 14 mi
• Pearl — 14 mi
• Grimes' Creek — 18 mi