A detachment of the U.S. Army, the first to enter the Rocky Mountain region, reached this point on September 2, 1854, from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, under the command of Col. E.J. Steptoe. It consisted of two companies of artillery, 85 dragoons, and 130 teamsters, herders and hostlers. On the east shore of Lake Shambip (Rush Lake), the force erected quarters, stables and corrals, cut 200 cords of wood, and stored 200 tons of hay for 450 mules and 300 horses. The detachment left for Benicia, California, in early April, 1855. An overland Stage Station stood here from 1868 to the early 1870's, W.M. S. Godbe's Chicago ore smelter was erected here in 1871 and operated until about 1880, the place was known as Slagtown, and the present line of the Union Pacific Railroad reached here in 1902.