In 1811 the Hunt party likened the terrific torrent of the Snake River three miles east of here to a boiling caldron, adding the old Scottish word "linn," meaning a waterfall. They had lost a man and a canoe in a roaring chute upstream. Finding worse water ahead, they abandoned river travel. The next year, another explorer said of Caldron Linn, "Its terrific appearance beggars all description." Today no road reaches the spot and the name is forgotten.