After the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, several freight roads were established between the railroad and Idaho, and the Kelton Road became the most popular of the freight roads that developed across southern Idaho. It followed parts of the Salt Lake Alternate, North Alternate Oregon Trail, and the Main Oregon Trail from Kelton, Utah, to Boise, but in several places it diverted to use shorter or smoother routes. A short distance southeast of this site, it separated from the Oregon Trail because the Oregon Trail east of Canyon Creek was very rocky. For several miles, the desert along the Oregon Trail is littered with volcanic rocks, and emigrants bounced across these stones and recorded in their diaries how rough the road was.