Gold was struck in Boise Basin, over the ridge to the east, in 1862, and the rush to the new mines passed through Horse Shoe Bend. Traffic came by steamer up the Columbia to Umatilla and then overland. At first only pack and saddle trains used the route, but in 1864 John Hailey, a famous Idaho pioneer, ran stages this way, and a toll road up Harris Creek opened soon afterward. Although other routes to the Basin also developed, freighters continued to come through Horse Shoe Bend for many years.