"Went about 18 miles crossing Boise River and camping upon it for the last time. It is a stream of fine clear water 40 or 50 yards wide and abounds with fish which may be seen playing in its clear waters in many places. This afternoon the road passed close along the brink of the river at a point where there was a place of considerable depth between two riffles. And it was literally alive with fish, many of them very large Salmon. This river, at the point we first struck it comes out of a range of mountains between walls of perpendicular rocks several hundred feet high. After passing the mountains, they gradually receed from the river leaving a narrow bottom between and at length die away in the steep bluffs which bound the valley on either hand. The bottom is not very fertile but still there is very fine grass in patches and it is cut up by sloughs apparently washed out by the spring freshetts. The banks are lined with cottonwood and willows.

Canyon Hill descent in Caldwell, 1999

Robert Haldane Renshaw, 1851

"Wednesday 13. The morning was cool and pleasant. We traveled down the river till noon. We nooned close by the bluff. After noon we ascended the hill, and soon went down on the other side, and crossed the River Boise, and traveled 6 or 7 miles and camped."

Must See: Historical marker by bridge which crosses Boise River

Current Observations/Journal Entry:

"Canyon Hill was a landmark used by the emigrants, but it was very tough on the wagons. This location is the only remnant of the Oregon Trail left in Caldwell, and it seems to need some tender loving care. If it is not going to be developed or managed as an interpretive site, it ought to at least be protected from a preservation perspective. Some teenagers are parked alongside the river and are jumping off of the bridge into the water... it is a pretty good drop from up there. I don't think I would be that adventurous. There is a highway road sign across the bridge which talks about how the emigrants had to travel 30 miles to find a good crossing about a quarter mile north of Canyon Hill. Canyon Ferry, 1883, was a free wagon bridge that replaced an older ferry which had begun in the 1860's."