Two miles east is located the dam and headworks of the canal system. Incorporation was effected Feb. 4, 1899 for the purpose of irrigating this valley. First filing on Bear River to supply the canal was Mar. 4, 1897. To perfect the right it was necessary to put the water through the right of way by Feb. 12, 1899. This tremendous task was accomplished through the ingenuity and perseverance of the brave men and women who pioneered this valley.
The text above is from Daughters of Utah Pioneers historic marker #219, located at 206 North Main Street in Grace, Idaho.
This area, known as Ten Mile Sterrett and Ivins, was opened for homesteading in 1880. Emigrants from Utah and Iceland transformed sagebrush lands to productive livestock farms. They befriended the roaming Indians and Oregon Trail travelers. Jared Williams donated this plot 72×105 feet. Twenty person are buried here from 1893 to 1940.
The text above is from Daughters of Utah Pioneers historic marker #348, located on Ivins Road in Bancroft, Idaho.
One block west from this site, in 1894, the pioneers of this area erected a school house built of red brick made and kilned by them. It was one room, twenty-five by forty feet. Guss Erickson laid the brick, first teachers were Edith Townsend and Nathan Barlow. In 1907 the school was sold to the L.D.S. Church and additional rooms built. It was used as a place of worship until 1930. The bell hung in a tower of the school house and called the people to school, church, and other assemblies. When the building was razed in 1945 the bell was given to the Daughters of Utah Pioneers.
The text above is from Daughters of Utah Pioneers historic marker #232, located at 95 South Main Street in Bancroft, Idaho.
President Brigham Young directed Mariner W. Merrill to explore new town sites. Out of Merrill’s survey, several families from Richmond, Utah crossed the Bear River on April 15, 1865, and settled in the Weston area. The first dugouts were constructed in the Meadows of Cedarville.
The very next year, 1866, a grist mill was constructed by James Mack on Weston Creek south of the present town site. This new mill’s location resulted in the relocation of the proposed town. Rocks were hauled from Cedar Hills to construct the new mill. Mack acquired machinery for the mill from Thatcher’s in Logan. The grist mill used 3 1/2 foot stone burrs to grind grain, a small grain cleaner, two stands of elevators, and one centrifugal reel. Mack also installed a 13 1/4 foot James Leffel turbine that had been freighted to the west in1859.
Brigham Young visited Weston in 1869, and proclaimed that golden fields of hard red wheat would soon surround the community. The grist mill stimulated dry-farm wheat cultivation, and Brigham Young’s proclamation was soon fulfilled. The construction of the mill provided stimulus for several other early businesses, all powered by Weston Creek, including saw mills, iron works, spinning, carding, weaving and dyeing enterprises.
Building of the grist mill launched the new town of Weston. It was the only mill on the west side of Bear River. For many years, the mill operated 24 hours per day to meet the consumptive needs of Weston, Oxford, Clifton, Dayton, Clarkston and Cornish. Weston was also located on the “gold road” to mines in northern Idaho and Montana. Weston settlers shipped flour and other food items northward. The town quickly became a shipping center and was additionally enhanced when the railroad came to Weston in 1890.
The mill was often remodeled over the next 100 years, and it also changed owners several times. The mill operated in a modernized world with steel rollers and advanced technology, but it could not survive for very long in the post World War II Era.
The text above is from Daughters of Utah Pioneers historic marker #561, located on 2nd South in Weston, Idaho.
The pictures below were submitted by Marshall Hurst:
Honoring builders of bridges and trails and pioneers who passed this way in the development of the West.
The first wagon bridge over Snake River was erected here by James M. Taylor in 1865 replacing the ferry established on the Utah-Idaho-Montana trail for miners and freighters to Virginia City, Lander, Salmon River and other points. Robert Anderson became part owner of the toll bridge in 1866, establishing here a way station named Eagle Rock from a nesting place up the river. The Utah & Northern Railroad Co. erected here in 1879 the first railroad bridge over Snake River. The town Eagle Rock was renamed Idaho Falls in 1890.
This granite boulder from Grand Teton mountain was set by Teton Peaks Council, Boy Scouts of America and the tablet provided by Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association
The above text is from Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association marker #15 erected August 26, 1932 in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
The Idaho Falls LDS Hospital and School of Nursing
The idea of the hospital was conceived by Heber C. Austin with construction commencing in 1919, though the completion of the building was delayed because of a depressed economy. On 22 October 1923, the hospital was dedicated by President Heber J. Grant of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The school of nursing was essential in the operation of the hospital, the third floor being residence for the student nurses, until it became necessary to erect “The Nurse’s Home.”
The Hospital is remembered for compassionate service to all the people of the Upper Snake River Valley, regardless of race and religion. The Church divested its ownership 1st of April 1975, though under names of Idaho Falls and Riverview, the hospital continued serving the community until December 1986.
The building was located northeast of this monument. The monument resembles the original structure, and bricks therefrom were used in building it.
The text above is from Sons of Utah Pioneers historic marker #30, erected July 24th 1990 and located at Riverside Drive and Memorial Drive in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
In February of 1883, Colonizer and Bishop, Thomas E. Ricks commissioned Andrew A. Anderson to survey Rexburg City. This block was set aside as the Public Square. In the early days of colonization, settlers camped here before moving to their permanent locations. Here at the Square was a racetrack, ball field, bandstand, and a bowery for the community. The Square was the gathering place for Rexburg and surrounding areas for patriotic, political, community and family activities. By 1912, the Rexburg LDS Tabernacle was completed and many of the activities moved there, away from the Public Square.
The above text is from the monument, Sons of Utah Pioneers historic marker #161, erected in 2010 in Rexburg, Idaho.
round was broken on May 14, 1911 by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to construct a tabernacle for the purpose of holding conference, baptisms, and other special meetings. President Joseph F. Smith dedicated the tabernacle eight months later on January 7, 1912. The original cost was $29,000. Church services were held in the tabernacle until June 5, 1976, when the Teton Dam broke and flooded the upper valley. The church then sold the tabernacle to the city of Rexburg to be restored as a civic center and museum.
The above text is from the monument, Sons of Utah Pioneers historic marker #180 which is located at 51 North Center Street at the Rexburg Tabernacle in Rexburg, Idaho in Madison County.
Erected Sept. 28, 1935 In honor of the Rexburg Stake Pioneers The founders of Rexburg, March 11, 1883
Thomas E. Ricks
Henry Flamm
Francis C. Gunnell
Fred Smith
William F. Rigby
Daniel Walters
Thomas E. Ricks, Jr.
Lorenzo Thorpe
Brigham Ricks
Heber Ricks
Leonard Jones
Willard Ricks
James M. Cook
Andrew S. Anderson, Surveyor
The Pioneer Call “Go into the Snake River Country, found settlements, care for the Indians, stand upon and equal footing, and Co-operate in making improvements. Gain influence among all men, and strengthen the cords of the Stakes of Zion.”
John Taylor, George Q. Cannon, Joseph F. Smith
The above text is from the monument, Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association #54 which was erected in 1935 and is located at 51 North Center Street at the Rexburg Tabernacle in Rexburg, Idaho in Madison County. The UPTLA historic markers were later adopted by the Sons of Utah Pioneers.
First habitation in this region was built by Nathaniel J. Wyeth on Snake River 14 miles west of this monument July 15, 1834 and named for Henry Hall, senior member of Wyeth’s firm.
The original stockade, 80 feet square was purchased by Hudson’s Bay Company in 1937 and rebuilt with adobe walls and substantial roofs becoming an important station of the California Oregon Trail. The trappers abandoned it about 1855.
The above text is from the monument, Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association #11 which was erected in 1932 and is located on Highway 91 in Fort Hall, Idaho in Bingham County. The UPTLA historic markers were later adopted by the Sons of Utah Pioneers.