Histories

Families
- Carruthers Family
- Porter Family Collection
1895 Fremont County
1976 Teton Dam Flood

Northern edge of the sand dunes, west of St. Anthony

The black rocks in the foreground are basalt, a volcanic rock. The blue ridge in the background is called the "Ashton Hill" and is actually the caldera of a huge inactive volcano. Island Park is the area inside the old volcano and is fifty miles across. The town of Island Park boasts of "the world's longest main street." The opposite rim is at the Montana border and you would cross it at Targhee Pass. Then its just a few miles down hill to West Yellowstone, Montana. Yellowstone Park is made up of two equally huge, overlapping volcanoes. If any of the three blows, the other two will go, and there will be lava all the way to Pocatello. Geologists predict they will erupt sometime between today and 20,000 years from now.

In Idaho for the Curious (Backeddy Books, Cambridge, Idaho. 1982), p. 160f, Cort Conley claims these sand dunes are the highest sand dunes in state, "perhaps the highest in the country, since they surpass those of Death Valley . . . the dunes cover an area about thirty-five miles long and up to five miles wide."

Sawtell's Dude Ranch

"Jackson took this interior of Sawtell's ranch house. Partners Sawtell and Wurtz caught fish for sale to miners at Virginia City, Montana. They also rented lodgings to big game hunters.

"Earliest to record the scenery of eastern Idaho was undoubtedly William Henry Jackson, photographer with Ferdinand V. Hayden's Geological Survey party of 1871-72 . . . Although most of Jackson's pictures for the Hayden Survey recorded topography and geology, those of Fort Hall Agency, Sawtell's Ranch and Taylor's Bridge, on the site of modern Idaho Falls, have great historical interest. His photographs of Yellowstone are often credited with persuading Congress to make it our first national park." - Arthur A. Hart, "Camera Eye on Idaho, Pioneer Photography, 1863-1913"; The Caxton Printers, Ltd., Caldwell, Idaho, 1990.

"In 1868, Gilman Sawtell started a dude ranch and Henry's Lake Fishery that did much to develop this natural resort area. Sawtell did everything from supplying swans for New York's Central Park zoo to building a net work of roads for tourish access to Yellowstone National Park. His commercial fishery served Montana mining markets. His pioneer Herny's Lake ranch was a major attraction here for a decade before rail service brought more settlers to this area." Sawtell's Ranch Highway Marker at untraveledroad.com