Editorial

History can connect with us unexpectedly

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Having studied history throughout my life, it seems that it connects with me on a very personal level at times. Having lived in Mountain Home for nearly 20 years, for example, I’ve enjoyed the opportunities to learn some interesting stories with regards to the history that helped create this part of the state.

To a point, it helped connect me to the times when I studied American history while I was in grade school. During my childhood, I gained a basic understanding of how the Oregon Trail served the millions of people who risked their lives as they traveled across what is now known as the Great Plains.

Living in Mountain Home all these years helped provide me with a much clearer understanding of the challenges these people faced. After all, I’ve spent countless times visiting various historical buildings that helped write this chapter of American history in addition to seeing firsthand the pathways these early settlers took as they completed that 2,000 mile trek.

Keep in mind that this rugged trail was nothing more than a pathway that countless wagons helped carve into the local landscape as their wheels dug into the soil and left behind a visible pathway for others to follow. Along with dealing with extreme weather conditions and the threat of vicious predators and rattlesnakes, these pioneers faced one key obstacle that sought to keep them from safely reaching the Oregon coast as they completed this trek.

The Snake River represented that dangerous hurdle.

Way too often, these travelers would guide their horses and wagons across the river, only to have some of these horses drowned while trying to cross that river. Assuming these people survived, imagine the perils they faced after they lost the horses and oxen they needed to continue traveling to Oregon.

That’s assuming, of course, they were somehow able to save their wagons, which carried all of the supplies they needed to survive that journey.

It’s this one element of history that continued to write itself in recent years when local horseback riders took time to reenact the river crossing during a scheduled event at the state park. For more than 25 years, organizers hosted the annual Three Island Crossing – an event that commemorated the crossing of the Snake River by the Oregon Trail pioneers.

The apex of that event was the actual crossing of the river by wagons and horseback riders. However, despite access to today’s technology and the ability to chart safer ways to cross the river in the vicinity of these three islands, it seemed that history continued to repeat itself in some not-so-good ways.

Information published by the Mountain Home News back in 2008, for example, reported how two horses died as they tried to complete that historical reenactment. With that event getting cancelled over the next six years, organizers tried to resurrect that river crossing, only to see it end once again after a horse drowned during a scheduled practice.

At that point, organizers finally pulled the plug on that part of the yearly activities held near the state park.

While those incidents were something I regretted having to cover during my time with this newspaper, it helped me open another page in the history books. It involved how a man named Gustavus, or Gus for short, gained historical recognition for his efforts to help pioneers safely cross that river once and for all.

A lot of that involved the fact that Gus served as a freight hauler that led him to use his teams of oxen and horses to move various supplies along a section of the Oregon Trail that ran north of what is now Mountain Home and brought them to Boise. Having likely faced the dangers of crossing the Snake River himself, I’m sure this is what led him to solve this problem once and for all.

His idea was simple: He built a boat to allow his wagons to safely sail across the Snake River. But he didn’t stop there.

In addition to using that boat to bring all of his freight across the river, he dedicated time to ensuring pioneers gained the same opportunity to use that boat so they too could safely cross the river.

However, it’s not Gus’ first name that remains written on the pages of our historical archives. Instead, we remember him by his last name…

Glenn.

And it’s because of his contributions that early leaders in this part of Idaho immortalized him as they chose to name a town in his honor.

And that’s how Glenns Ferry earned its name.

On Saturday, Aug. 9, people took time to gather at the interpretive center at the Three Island Crossing State Park to pay homage to Glenn as well as the countless others whose efforts helped strengthen this growing nation. In addition to giving people an up-close look at various elements of our county’s history, volunteers took time to present various hands-on activities to help highlight various moments in the history of the Oregon Trail to people of all ages.

It’s those lessons that I feel children in today’s society would appreciate. After all, it gives them a first-hand look at this nation’s history, which I feel is way better than having them read it out of a textbook or having to watch a video on their classroom computer.

If anything, having these children use their hands to learn more about this element of American history is something I think will remain fixed in their minds for years to come.

Consider this: Saturday’s event at the state park in Glenns Ferry comes as the United States prepares to mark the 250th anniversary of the day it broke away from Great Britain as it established itself as a free, independent nation. Oddly enough, I still remember when this nation marked its bicentennial while I was just 10 years old.

To a point, I helped write an element of that moment while I was part of the student council at my school. I wrote my name on a piece of paper that was included in a time capsule buried near the flagpole of our school.

If everything remains on track, that time capsule will open once this nation celebrates its 300th anniversary in 2076.