Idaho Falls, Idaho

It's a two day drive up to the Canadian border, so I find us a halfway point to spend the night.  It's an off-brand hotel, Le Ritz Hotel and Suites, but it's lookin' pretty good to us.

We're on the banks of the Snake River,

and right on the Falls.

Pretty romantic, huh?

From our very nice room we can see across the Snake to the very first Mormon Temple built in Idaho.  They make those steeples high so as to draw your attention to the heavens above.

After the cavalry got control of the Shoshone Indians in 1863, pioneers and miners flooded west on the Montana Trail in search of the dreams - be those dreams of potato crops or gold mines.  The Montana Trail was one of the very few that ran north to south carrying folks over mountains and across streams and valleys from Salt Lake City, Utah, up through Idaho and into the Montana gold fields. 

This place used to be known as Taylor's Crossing.  Ol' Matt Taylor built a timber frame bridge across the Snake in 1865.  Crossing the black volcanic-rock gorge using Taylor's toll bridge here was a site better than having to go seven more miles up to the ferry.

By 1866 there had accumulated enough businesses at this crossing to be called a settlement and it became Eagle Rock.  The first child of European descent born at Eagle Rock was delivered in 1874.  By 1878 the railroad had built it's own bridge across the Snake.  In 1891 the town voted to change its name to Idaho Falls. Not bad growth over a thirty year span.  And here we are today.