History of Hudspeth on the Lewis & Clark Trail

Precursor of All Trails West

The Lewis and Clark expedition into the Louisiana Territory predated the blazing of all other trails in what today is the western United States. At the behest of President Thomas Jefferson, explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out in May 1804 to explore the territory purchased from the French. Their three-year expedition forged pathways through the new western territories of a young and developing nation. Their pioneering contributions included a mapping of the territory and contact and treaties with native peoples along the way.

In the nation's first 100 years, the thirst of settlers and the U.S. government to expand into the territory first mapped by Lewis and Clark grew exponentially.

Idaho became a crossroads for wagon trains headed west seeking gold, silver, land, and other riches. Lewis and Clark first forged the main trails through the state, but other pathways formed as the thirst for riches grew. The routes that would take shape included the Oregon Trail, the California Trail, and what would later become the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, all of which pass through Idaho.

Pioneers, prospectors, and explorers crowding the trails through Idaho led to a desire for shortcuts to bypass perilous elevations or just to get to destinations more rapidly. Hudspeth's cutoff came into use in this way in 1849 as a gold rush route shortcut to California.

The Route bypasses a longer section of the Oregon Trail, connecting with the California Trail. It spanned about 110 miles, a more direct route from Sheep Rock at the eastern end of Idaho to Cassia Creek in western Idaho.

Hudspeth's Cutoff came to be when a party of 250 settler/prospectors from Missouri---led by Benoni Hudspeth---sought a quicker route to California's gold mines. Together, Hudspeth and mountain man John J. Meyers forged the trail that would become the cutoff. All told, the cutoff saved some 25 miles of travel, a monumental distance in the days of horse-drawn wagons.

The cutoff remains visible off U.S. 30 in Soda Springs and elsewhere. It is listed throughout Idaho tourism and historical sites as a historic trail, part of a vast network of pathways originated by the Lewis and Clark expeditions.