Early California and Oregon Trail ruts left by thousands of emigrant wagons as they ascended this bluff still are visible below this viewpoint. In 1859 F.W. Lander's wagon road builders dug and improved the grade that shows more clearly. California traffic, for which Lander constructed a better road, diverged from this Snake River route to Oregon just beyond Raft River, 6 miles west of here. When they got up this grade, emigrants were thankful that they had passed 20 miles of bad road, and that a less demanding trail lay ahead.