1857
Site of Fort McGraw (sic)
Rendezvous of
Scouts & Trappers
1812 - 1835
Another marker, next to the Site of Fort McGraw marker, is currently missing, but its text is provided below:
Site of Fort Thompson or Camp MaGaw
In 1856 the United States Congress appropriated money to build the central division of the Fort Kearney-South Pass-Honey Lake Wagon Road from Nebraska to California. W.M.F. Magaw was appointed superintendent by the Secretary of the Interior. He was later removed for mismanagement and replaced by W.F. Lander, who staked a new route known as the Lander Cutoff from Gilbert Station, or Burnt Ranch, to City Rocks, Idaho. Winter of 1857-59 overtook the workers at St. Mary's Station on the Oregon Trail. Frank Lowe, guide, led them to this location for winter quarters, officially named Fort Thompson, in honor of the incumbent U.S. Secretary of the Interior. Old timers called it Camp Magraw. The settlement above here, first known as Push Root, was renamed Lander by Lowe, in honor of his friend.
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