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| Chapter
11: Grays Lake and Blackfoot Lava Field Lander Trail Discovery of Gold on Caribou Mountain Chinese Miners Freight to Carriboo Mines Old Williamsburg Demise of the Name Carriboo Polygamists in Star Valley Wyoming Cattle, Sheep, and Cranes |
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| West-East geological cross section of Caribou Mountain Grays Lake area from Mabey (1979, p. 10), used by permission. Click on image for a larger view. | |||
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Map
of Caribou Mountain and Grays Lake area.
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Grays
Lake and Blackfoot Lava Field
Volcanic activity
of the Blackfoot Lava field over the last million years has produced the large
flat area north of Soda Springs. Rivers here wander slowly through marshes,
as if they were wondering which way to escape the basin.
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| Caribou Mountain and Grays Lake basin from the west, (July, 1992).The mountain is held up by granite stock intruded in Eocene time, about 45million years ago. Gold in placer deposits eroded from veins around the stock has lured prospectors to the area for over 100 years. |
Grays Lake has been an enclosed catchment area for water for at least a million years and contains a valuable record of pollen for the changing climates of Pleistocene time.
Lander
Trail
The Lander Trail,
named after F.W. Lander, who supervised its construction,went through the Grays
Lake Valley. In the 1860s it became known as the Old Salt Road when salt was
brought from Stump Creek to Montana, Boise and the west.
The Lander Trail was shorter than the Oregon Trail from South Pass to Fort Hall, but the hardships often extended the duration of the journey.Spring rains often made the trail impassable.
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An admirer of the Lander Trail wrote:
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