On August 4, 1851, P.V. Crawford wrote of traveling nineteen miles over a tolerably rough road, then after watering going eight and a half miles farther to a barrel creek, Canyon Creek, where a small creek ran through a barrel-shaped valley surrounded by rock bluffs about twenty feet high, and where the party nooned at Barrel Creek. Canyon Creek was a popular camping area along the Oregon Trail. After traveling 12 miles across the rocky desert, most emigrants stopped and camped in this small valley. It was often crowded with emigrant wagons, and the animals had to be taken a mile upstream to find grass. The round shape and steep walls reminded many of a barrel. Despite the guidebooks, Canyon Creek was known by many names, including Barrel Creek, Barrell Creek, Bearl Camp Creek, Barrow Creek, Carrol Creek, Lake Creek, Lake River, Rock Creek, Charlottes Creek, Shillot Creek, and Peters Spring.