The Raft River Valley served Native Americans as a hunting and wintering place because snow did not lie in the valley and it offered good water and abundant grass for animals. Between 1825 and 1832, British and American trappers including Peter Skene Ogden, Milton Sublette, and John Work recorded travels in the valley. The Oregon Trail, in use from 1841, followed the Snake River. In 1846, the California Cutoff, also called Applegate, left the Oregon Trail at the junction of the Raft River, traveled southwest to the City of Rocks, and continued to California. The Salt Lake Cutoff, pioneered by Samuel Hensley in 1848, crossed into the valley and joined the California Trail at City of Rocks. That same year, members of the Mormon Battalion traveling east met Hensley and pioneered the route as a wagon road into Salt Lake City. Beginning in 1849 during the gold rush to California, thousands traveled from Salt Lake to City of Rocks by way of the Salt Lake Cutoff, while others going to California traveled by way of Fort Hall. Seeking a shorter route in 1849, Hudspeth left the trail at Soda Springs and blazed a new trail that rejoined the California Trail near here. An estimated 45,000 people traveled the route in 1850, followed by 50,000 more travelers in 1852. Travel continued over the Hudspeth Cutoff from 1849 through 1859, when the opening of the Lander Trail caused most California-bound groups to return to the route by way of Fort Hall and up the Raft River. In 1869, John Hailey received a government contract to freight rich minerals from Wood River County to Kelton, Utah, the nearest railroad, and return with supplies, and Ben Halliday also operated a stage service in the valley. The greater Raft River drainage remains historically rich, with visible trail ruts, many unmarked graves along the routes, and journals that record scenic vistas as well as tragedies along these roads of history.