On Thursday July 24, 1851, Susan Amelia Cranston recorded traveling 13 miles and reaching the river 2 miles above the ford, where her company found people ferrying in wagon beds, unloaded their two best wagon beds, caulked them, ferried their loads that night, and finished crossing the next day. After two days of desert travel without easy access to water, many emigrants reached the Snake River south of Rosevear Gulch to water their stock. Most continued downstream two miles to Three Island Crossing, where they had to decide whether to ford the river or continue along the south side of the Snake River, but some chose to cross here instead. Because the water at this location was too deep to ford, wagons had to be floated across as boats or ferries. Emigrants caulked wagons with whatever materials were available, plugged holes with clothing, removed the wheels and loaded them into the wagon box, and often had a man swim across carrying a rope so that from the north side he could pull the wagon boats across the river. Some people managed to row their wagon boats across, while the cattle were forced to swim the river. Ezra Meeker rowed his wagon across the river at this site during his journey on the Oregon Trail in 1852.