Last updated: April 2, 2024
Place
Birch Creek Trail Site
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Location:
County Route 730, southwest of Farewell Bend State Recreation Area
Significance:
A 1/4 mile hiking trail on the actual route of the Oregon Trail.
MANAGED BY:
Amenities
2 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Trailhead
Birch Creek Trail Site is a Bureau of Land Management site where the actual path made by emigrants, livestock, and wagons traveling the Oregon Trail is still a hiking path. Visitors are welcome to hike this quarter mile long section of the Oregon Trail across the sagebrush plains as it heads toward the Snake River. The hiking part of this path ends at a barbed wire fence, which divides grazing allotments on public lands. Oregon Trail ruts then continue for a short distance from the fence before disappearing in the grass.
There is also a wayside sign with a map of the Oregon Trail. The sign reads in part, "Remnants of the Oregon Trail. From Alkali Springs, called by many pioneers Sulphur Springs, the emigrants traveled on to Birch Creek, which offered much needed water and grass of their livestock. First named 'Riviere aux Bouleaux' by French-Canadian fur trappers, here travelers found willows not birch. Continuing from Birch Creek, the parade of iron-rimmed wagon wheels inscribed ruts upon the landscape as they churned to the Snake River, only four miles distant. This was the origin of the gentle swale before you, a lasting signature of that vast emigration."
"Drove from the Sulphur Springs to Birch Creek, eleven miles distant. Road good and weather fine. Country poor, but is beginning to shell out some better grass than usual. Mountains destitute of timber seem to cover the face of the country as far as the eye can penetrate the ethereal blue. Sick are getting better. - John Kerns, August 24, 1852."
"Tuesday, September 7, laid by today. Found ourselves most all sick from the effects of drinking sulphur water. Monday, September 13. Just found myself able to write since the last date. We have laid by ever since excepting we moved three miles to the Snake River to get better water. Found plenty of feed. The Indians have visited us every day and brought us fish. They appear perfectly friendly. - Martha S. Read, 1852."
Site Information
Location (County Route 730, southwest of Farewell Bend State Recreation Area)
Accessing Birch Creek Trail Site is done by driving on an unpaved road. When it is dry, the road is passable for passenger sedans. This is open range: cattle may be on the road. The site contains a small parking area, interpretive signs, and the hiking trail.More Site Information
Oregon National Historic Trail