This site is part of a popular shortcut, the Lander Cutoff, between the South Pass and the Snake River valleys. Over 13,000 emigrants used this route in 1859, the first year it was open. Many of them carved their names onto the "register" of the route, Names Hill, as they rested by the river after a dry walk from the Big Sandy River. The most famous name on the register is that of trapper Jim Bridger, who passed by in 1844.