Thomas Fork

This was the first stream emigrants had to cross in Idaho, with the Wyoming line about a mile behind them and Big Hill just ahead. The toll that galled them was modest by the standards of the trail: on the North Platte, Louis Guinard's bridge of 1859 charged from $1 to $6 a wagon, depending on the height of the river. Here a dollar bought a dry crossing of a stream that was otherwise a bad ford. The sign never names the man who collected it.

What the plaque says

Thomas Fork A bad ford gave trouble to wagon trains crossing this stream on the trail to California and Oregon in 1849. In that year, gold-seeking 49ers developed a short cut (practically U.S. 30 west of here) which crossed this stream. By the early 1850's, two bridges had been built and their enterprising owner was charging $1 a wagon toll--which not everyone could afford. Penniless emigrants struggling in the water cursed while richer companions comfortably clattered across the bridges. 157 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge — 14 mi
  The Bear River crosses this marsh twice: once in a canal into Bear Lake, and once in another canal on its way back out.
• National Oregon/California Trail Center — 14 mi
  Emigrants came down off Big Hill and camped in the clover here. Brigham Young renamed the town; the trail center brings the camp back in costume.
• Bear Lake — 22 mi
  The Caribbean of the Rockies — a turquoise lake straddling the Utah-Idaho border
• Minnetonka Cave — 25 mi
  Found by a grouse hunter, named first for a porcupine and then in a language from the far side of the Rockies. Five kinds of bats winter inside.

More markers nearby

• Big Hill — 8.7 mi
• McAuley's Road — 8.7 mi
• Smith's Trading Post — 10 mi
• Bank Robbers — 14 mi