Westward-bound emigrants entered Idaho after crossing Thomas Fork Valley and traveled past Big Hill, Soda Springs, and Fort Hall before facing the harsh Snake River Plain, where dust, sagebrush, lava rock, mosquitoes, burning sun, cold nights, and concern among Native Americans made the journey arduous. Before the discovery of gold, California-bound emigrants followed the main Oregon Trail to Raft River before turning south on the California Trail, but new routes soon opened, including Hudspeth's Cutoff in 1849 and the Salt Lake Alternate in 1848, which joined near City of Rocks and continued through Granite Pass, while later alternates such as the South Alternate, Northside Alternate, Goodale's Cutoff, Lander Road, and Kelton Road became heavily used as growing traffic stripped grass and wood and tainted water sources. Native Americans were generally friendly and helpful in the early years, trading at Soda Springs and Fort Hall, providing fish at Salmon Falls, and guiding travelers at the Three Island Crossing of the Snake River, but increasing emigrant numbers, declining resources, and the abandonment of Fort Hall and Fort Boise by the Hudson's Bay Company in the 1850s led to tensions, major confrontations, and a need for military protection after incidents including the Ward Massacre in 1854, the Utter party's disaster in 1860, and attacks near Massacre Rocks in 1862; after General Patrick Connor's attack on the Northwest Shoshoni at Bear River on January 29, 1863, confrontations along the trails ceased. Soda Springs, long known to fur traders, trappers, missionaries, emigrants, and gold seekers for its bubbling mineral waters and other curiosities, became an especially important stop after Hudspeth's Cutoff opened in 1849 and trade supplies were moved there from Fort Hall to reach westbound traffic. Fort Hall, built in 1834 by Nathaniel Wyeth and taken over by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1838, served fur trappers and Oregon Trail wagon trains for more than two decades and continued to welcome travelers after the area became United States territory in 1846. In 1857 Congress authorized another alternate west from South Pass, the Fort Kearney, South Pass, and Honey Lake Wagon Road, soon known as the Lander Road; under engineer Frederick W. Lander, major construction was completed by November 1858, and the route became popular with emigrants, miners, and later livestock drives because, despite difficult stretches, it offered excellent water, feed, and wood.