This site is a crossing of the Lander Cut-off, the northern fork of the Oregon Trail. Originally called the Fort Kearney-South Pass-Honey Lake Wagon Road when it opened in 1858, it was the first federally-funded road project west of the Mississippi River.
F.W. Lander mapped this new route, shortening the trip to the Pacific by 5 days and avoiding a ferry crossing to the south where price gouging was alleged. Sand Springs was the only reliable water available to emigrants between Muddy Creek, 8 miles to the east, and the New Fork River, 10 miles to the west. Until the coming of the railroad in 1869, up to 300 wagons and thousands of cattle, horses and mules may have passed here in a day. The trail ruts visible behind this sign and continuing over the next ridge are reminders of the largest known voluntary migration in world history.
From homesteading in the 1880s until use of the automobile in the 1920s, Sand Springs remained an important watering hole for travelers and stock on the north/south New Fork to Rock Springs wagon road.
Public access to Lander Trail ruts is behind you to the east, just across U.S. Highway 191 on Bureau of Land
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