You've Got to Watch this Three Islands Crossing Reenactment
Three Island Crossing was an important location on the Oregon Trail and a few reenactors show you what the crossing may have been like.
If you’ve been poking around this website long, you’ve probably realized how much I support living history. In my opinion, there is no better way to learn about history than to actually DO the things of the past that people did. Whether that is making a fire with flint and steel, building a travois, cooking, or sleeping out under the stars; if you want to learn about a time period you’ll be surprised how much living history can teach you.
Many time periods have a following of people dedicated to keeping the history alive and the Oregon Trail is no different. In America right now there are people with historically accurate wagons, tack, clothing, and supplies to show you what life on the trail was really like. These folks may go out from time to time and drive parts of the trail for enjoyment. They may also show up at public events to help educate people on the time period they have devoted themselves to. One location on the trail that was significant was Three Island Crossing.
Three Island Crossing near present-day Glenn’s Ferry, Idaho, has a state park to mark this important river crossing. Normally, travelers followed the southern shore of the Snake River after leaving Fort Hall in eastern Idaho. As they traveled further and further west the land got considerably worse and worse. According to John C. Freemont in 1842:
“There was no grass here, the soil among the sage being entirely naked…A melancholy and strange-looking country - one of fracture, and violence, and fire.”
However, the land and route of the northern shore were better and the route to Fort Boise was easier. All the travelers had to do was cross the Snake River. And that was the problem. The mighty Snake River was wide, deep, and flowed with ferocity. Also, the Snake generally sits at the bottom of a steep-walled canyon, making a wagon descent very difficult. There were few places where wagons could get to the river and a few places where a river crossing seemed manageable. One of the few places was at Three Island Crossing.
It wasn’t a perfect crossing, and was described as such by Eli Cooley in 1845:
“Weather fine to day - rode quite broken and sandy. Come about 2 miles to the crossing of Snake and crossed over part of the wagons - plenty of grass and some willow and sage. Here they is 2 islands in the river at the crossing and the water is quite deep and runs verry swift.”
2 islands? Then why is it called Three Island Crossing? Well, as rivers do, the Snake would rise and fall based on all sorts of factors from year to year. Apparently in 1845 the river was high and only two islands were visible. Here is a time period painting that shows the three islands.
So, what did the crossing actually look like? Well, as I mentioned a group of reenactors took the risk and actually gave it a try. This even actually has a pretty interesting history if you have to time to read about it. And here is a video showing what that might have been like.
As you can see, even in the 21st century crossing the Snake River is no picnic. It’s no wonder that river crossings were a source of anxiety for pioneers on the Oregon Trail.
If you’re reading History of the West with Jemmey Fletcher: A Tyrant’s Road to Oregon, hopefully you’ll have a better sense of the events that happened in the chapter. Hopefully, you’ll also get out and try a few of the living history extensions from the book….maybe just not crossing the Snake River.