Beginning on May 22, 1843, nearly one thousand Americans left Missouri for new lives in the Oregon Country, and during the next two decades more than 50,000 emigrants traveled the Oregon Trail toward the “Garden of the World.” The route stretched more than two thousand miles through harsh country, and by the time travelers reached the Malheur River near present-day Vale, many had endured dust, heat, illness, death, and extreme weariness. Vale became an important crossing and campsite where emigrants watered livestock, camped, washed clothing, and used river water heated by nearby hot springs. Some trail memories preserved moments of humor and companionship amid hardship, but the region was also tied to the disaster of Stephen Meek’s 1845 cutoff, when 200 families followed an alternate route in hopes of saving distance, became stalled at Lost Hollow, turned north after failing to find water, and lost twenty-four people before reaching The Dalles. From that failed venture grew the legend of Blue Bucket gold, which later helped draw prospectors into the countryside. Although many emigrants first judged the area a barren desert unfit to support human life, the discovery of gold in 1863 transformed attitudes, bringing miners, then livestock and produce farming in 1864, flourishing agriculture by the 1870's, and eastbound drives of Oregon horses, cattle, and sheep to market. The Malheur River hot springs also became the site of Vale’s earliest development, including a trader’s hut and tent, the Bulley Ranch of Capt. Jonathon Keeney, and later the Stone House built by Lewis B. Rinehart, which opened on New Year’s Day 1873 and served as a hotel, stagecoach stop, safehouse, post office, and store, while the name Vale was given to the local post office in 1893.