At Eagle Rock Crossing, the first wagon bridge over the Snake River was erected in 1865 by James M. Taylor, replacing a ferry on the Utah-Idaho-Montana trail used by miners and freighters traveling to Virginia City, Lander, Salmon River, and other points in the development of the West. Robert Anderson became part owner of the toll bridge in 1866 and established a way station there named Eagle Rock after a nesting place up the river. In 1879, the Utah & Northern Railroad Co. erected there the first railroad bridge over the Snake River. The town of Eagle Rock was renamed Idaho Falls in 1890.