Alcove Springs, six miles northwest, was named in 1846 by appreciative travelers on the Oregon Trail, who carved the name on surrounding rocks and trees, and one traveler called the springs “a beautiful cascade of water... altogether one of the most romantic spots I ever saw.” The area was well known to early traders and mountain men and later to travelers headed to the Far West. John C. Fremont and his 1842 exploring expedition bivouacked at the springs, Marcus Whitman stopped there in 1843 with a thousand emigrants to Oregon, and Utah-bound Mormons and California-bound goldseekers followed because Independence Crossing, the famous ford across the Big Blue River, lay only a short distance above. In 1846 the Donner party buried its first member, Sarah Keyes, near the springs; most of the party later froze or starved in the Sierras. At full pool level, Tuttle Creek Reservoir extends along the Big Blue from Independence Crossing southward nearly to Manhattan.