Lava Hot Springs

The white men of the sign's date were Robert Stuart's Astorians, riding east from the Columbia in 1812 with dispatches for John Jacob Astor. That September they followed the Portneuf up from the Snake on the way to the Bear River, past the springs the Shoshone and Bannock had long used. One chronology puts them at Soda Springs by the 9th, so the sign's date may belong to another camp. They wintered on the North Platte and reached St. Louis in April 1813, having traced much of what became the Oregon Trail.

What the plaque says

Lava Hot Springs Long before white men discovered these springs, Sept. 9, 1812, Indians gathered here to use the free hot water. Except where they found hot springs, pre-historic Indians had a hard time getting hot water. They wove watertight baskets into which they put heated rocks. Here they had plenty of hot water for baths and for processing hides without going to all the work of heating baskets. This was one of their major campgrounds, especially in winter. After 1868, when they began to stay mostly on the Fort Hall Indian reservation, this spot lost its importance as a winter camp. 13 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by the Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lava Hot Springs — 0.4 mi
  The pools belong to the state because the springs left the Fort Hall Reservation and Congress handed them to Idaho in 1902.
• Black Canyon of the Bear River — 13 mi
  A basalt gorge cut by a river that, most of the year, now runs past it in a pipe.
• Soda Springs Geyser — 21 mi
  Drillers looking for hot water for a swimming pool hit cold soda water under pressure. The town put the geyser on a timer.

More markers nearby

• Hudspeth's Cutoff — 4.6 mi
• Chesterfield — 6.8 mi
• Bear River Lava — 16 mi
• John Bidwell — 16 mi