Bridgeport, Idaho ~ Index
Bridgeport, Idaho- was located across Bear River at the mouth of Deep Creek, about two and one-half miles north and west of the present city of Preston, Idaho.
The discovery of gold on Grasshopper Creek in southern Montana on 9 July 1862 brought the need of a good crossing of the Bear River to the fore. By early August, a flood of miners from Utah had crossed northern Cache Valley on their way to the new strike. Eager to furnish supplies, merchants followed the miners. The Woodmansee Brothers, of Salt Lake City, sent ten wagons. In late November mail contractors completed a road from Utah to Montana over which the Woodmansee and other wagons returned to Utah loaded with gold. The road followed a course later used by the Utah and Northern Railway between Little Mountain and Battle Creek on the west side of Winder. The Deseret Weekly reported the road to be an excellent one, with an abundance of feed and water.
Quick to seize opportunity, Nathan W. Packer, from Franklin, built a ferry across Bear River within one-half of a mile from the Shoshoni winter camp at Battle Creek. A small settlement, later called Bridgeport, grew with the freighting business. All along the road miners and Indians clashed. Army contingents sent from Salt Lake City to punish the Indians met with no success. The Indians struck suddenly, then fled to the mountains to avoid the troops.
Settlers occupied Bridgeport, from 1862 to 1879. Bridgeport grew up around the Nathan W. Packer ferry to accommodate freight wagons traveling from Utah to the gold fields in Montana. In 1865 five families lived at the location and nine more joined them the next year. In 1870, following the construction of a toll bridge at the site, the population fell to six families. Residents both arrived and then left, with the enterprise which gave them employment.
The residents lived in dugouts or crude log cabins with dirt floors and sod roofs in much the same fashion as people in outposts throughout the valley. A branch of the Mormon church held services on a more or less regular schedule, but a formal school did not open. The settlers clustered their cabins together near the ferry, they worked closely together, and some of them were related, all pointing to a tightly-knit and interdependent population. However, workers probably left after short terms of employment at the ferry to find better opportunities elsewhere. Mobility in northern Cache Valley was extremely high at this time. Occupation of the area was only beginning and people were not sure where they wanted to settle or which occupation they wished to pursue.
The ferry conducted a lively business. An estimated three or four-thousand tons of freight crossed the Bear River annually during the first few years and increased when gold strikes spread from Montana into the Snake River Valley and the Caribou Mountains of Idaho. By 1869 a mail and overland stage station had opened at Bridgeport, two or more coaches stopped each week, horses were changed on the coach, and meals were served. With such an active traffic across the ferry, the residents came into contact with a wide variety of personalities and ideas.
After the railroad reached Battle Creek in 1878 and most of the freight moved by rail, Bridgeport became a ghost town. When the bridge washed out a few years later, all that remained was a few deserted cabins, portions of the bridge abutments and a road which led to the river and disappeared onto the flats on the other side.
As the ferry service on Bear River reached its peak, livestock ranches at Roscoe began to expand. One of these, the Church Ranch, started as a cooperative enterprise of the Franklin ward. Later, the central church in Salt Lake City took over its operation. A number of commercial livestock concerns and smaller ranchers followed the church to the location. The largest of these, Stoddard and Potter, from Farmington Utah and the Rosco Stock Company, origin unknown, allowed their herds to range freely across the foothills and meadows from Cottonwood Creek on the north to Bear River on the south, depleting native grasses and allowing extensive erosion to develop. While trade with the gold fields flourished, beef and mutton from the area brought premium prices, and dray animals— horses, mules and oxen, bred at these ranches remained in high demand.
Harsh winters plagued the location. Sheep moved south for the winter, and cattle and horses came in from the open range to feed in sheltered areas. The snow was usually deep. Lars Fredrickson, in his History of Weston, Idaho recorded that in 1874:
The terminus of the Utah and Northern narrow guage railroad was at Franklin in the fall, and James and Fred Atkinson, (brothers and Weston boys) got the contract to carry the mail from Franklin once a week to Soda Springs. They got along all right until Christmas, and after that they would not use their horses any farther than Roscolt's place on Battle Creek. They had to use snow shoes the rest of the way.
Bridgeport
There are many communities which have a very humble beginning, but later develop into extensive cities and industrial centers. Others grow and develop for a time, serve their purpose, and pass into oblivion, scarcely leaving even a memory. Bridgeport and Battle Creek were just such places. Bridgeport was located across the Bear River at the mouth of Deep creek, about two and one-half miles north and west of the present city of Preston.
As early as 1861, that particular section was known as the Franklin Meadows, where a number of people came yearly to cut the wild hay growing there in abundance. Later some of the people came for the purpose of farming and to build homes or to look after the ferry boat. The ferry boat was used for the purpose of taking people, teams, wagons, and freight across Bear River. Nathan W. Packer had charge of the ferry. This was used until 1869 when the first bridge across Bear River was completed. It is not impossible to imagine how thankful the people were with the erection of the first bridge. No doubt Old Gentleman Bassett felt a thrill as he was the first man with a team to drive over the new bridge. This was a toll bridge known as the Packer Bridge.
The station for the Overland Stage and the mail route was also located at Bridgeport. Nelson Sill was the first stage driver. The people who were living there in 1865 with their families were: William Davis, Robert Holmes, Thomas Mendenhall, Joseph Nelson, and Nathan W. Packer. By 1886 these families were joined by David Orane, George Freestone, James Frew, Christian Lynn, George Mendenhall, Orson Shipley, George Wheeler, James Young and Mrs. Elvira Wheeler and her family.
These people lived in dugouts and log houses with dirt floors and a dirt roof. Two or three of these huts were built on the east bank of Bear River. Mrs. Elvira Wheeler was a very skillful nurse, who looked after the sick and also served as midwife and was a very great help to the people. A Latter-day Saint ward was organized with George Washburn acting as presiding elder. The meetings and social gatherings as well as day school sessions were held in the homes of the people.
Bridgeport
In the middle 1860's a small community called Bridgeport sprang up at a point two and one-half miles northwast of Preston on the Bear River. The settlers saw the opportunity to meet the needs of the freighting business and to acquire new farming lands. The location was used as a ferrying point for Cache Valley settlers participating in the Montana trade.
Nathan W. Packer was in charge of the ferry. In 1865 five families were living there. The next year they were joined by nine others. They lived in dugouts and log houses that were with out floors and were dirt roofed. A temporary ward of the Latter-day Saint Church was organized with George Washburn acting as presiding elder. Passage through the community was numerous and led to the establishment of a station for the overland and mail route to Montana. Horses for the coaches were changed at the station. In 1869 the ferry was replaced by a toll bridge known as Packer's Bridge. Bridgeport followed the fortunes of the freighting business. As soon as freighting was replaced by the railroad, Bridgeport was replaced by a railroad station at Battle Creek.
The Overland Stage dispatched two coaches a week (1874-1878) over the Packer Bridge and on to Montana.
Packer Pioneer Ferry and Bridge
Concrete shaft located one half mile west on Bear River marks the site of the Nathan Williams Packer Toll Ferry and Bridge, one of first on Bear River. Ferry operated with rope and carried equivalent of one team and wagon. In 1869 a bridge was built for use of mail and stage coaches en route to Montana mines, but washed out. Rebuilt of cribs and log piling. Again destroyed by high waters. Across the river is site of Bridgeport, an overland station consisting of dugouts and log cabins. Franklin County, Idaho
Franklin, Idaho was settled by the Latter-day Saints in 1860 as one of the original eight settlements in beautiful Cache Valley. It was supposed to be in Utah, but when the boundary line between Utah and Idaho was established, Franklin was found to be in Idaho. Not long afterward, Mormon groups as well as lone families left Utah to build anew in Idaho.
Nathan Williams Packer, born in Jefferson County, Ohio, January 2nd, 1811, son of Moses and Eva Packer, was an early convert of Mormonism, and a pioneer of 1850. His first home was in American Fork, Utah, but later he moved to Franklin. He was a mill builder by trade. As beautiful Bear River winds its way, its course leads north of the present city of Preston. The pioneers of this locality felt the need for a ferry, that they might keep in touch with the settlers across the river. It was then that Nathan Williams Packer erected one of the first toll ferries on Bear River, which operated with a rope for loading and unloading.
It carried the equivalent of one span of oxen and wagon. Near the same site a bridge was erected in 1869 for use of the mail coach and freight wagons going to the mines in Montana. This bridge was built of cribs and logs or small houses filled with cobble rocks. It was washed out and a second bridge erected by driving large pine logs with sharpened edge into the ground on top of which poles were placed. Across the river to the west, Bridgeport was located, an overland stage station which consisted of dugouts and log cabins. The monument, commemorating the erection of the ferry and bridges, is located along the west side of Highway 91, northwest of Preston, Idaho.