Salmon River

The sign's 1950 is a little late. In 1948 Glen Wooldridge, a Rogue River boatman from Oregon, ran a wooden boat with an outboard motor up the main canyon from Riggins to Salmon with Ruell Hawkins, the first recorded upstream passage. Until then the canyon went one way: freight came down in big sweep scows built at Salmon, which were broken up for lumber at the end because no crew could take them back. Wooldridge's family firm went on to build the river sleds that later jet boats grew from.

What the plaque says

Salmon River Rising as a small stream in the valley to the south, the Salmon winds 420 miles across Idaho before flowing into Snake River. Discovered in 1805 by Lewis and Clark, and explored with great difficulty by fur traders and prospectors, the Salmon drains a vast tangle of rugged mountains and deep canyons. Until after 1950, boats could not ascend the main canyon, so the Salmon got the name "river of no return". Large tracts of untamed wilderness still are found in the Salmon River mountains. 292 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Galena Summit Overlook — 1.2 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

• Vienna — 2.1 mi
• Alexander Ross — 2.3 mi
• Sawtooth City — 4.3 mi
• Galena — 4.5 mi