Craters
of the Moon (a named used only since the early 1900s) was
an amazing site for the pioneers. The treeless, moonlike
landscape was unlike anything they had ever seen. Unfortunately,
the rocky lava flows slowed the pioneer's progress.
This
region was not near the older, southern
route along the Snake. But beginning in the 1860s a
new route that bypassed the Snake River became very popular.
Called the Goodale Cutoff, it skirted the edge of the "lavas"
we now call Craters of the Moon.
Overton
Johnson:
ěThis is, perhaps the most rugged desert and dreary country
between the borders of the United States and the shores
of the Pacific. It is nothing less than a wild rocky barren
wilderness, or wrecked and ruined nature, a vast field of
volcanic desolation.î
Craters
of the Moon National Monument
Official web page of the National Park Service
