Crossing the Portneuf River seemed to be an impossible task until a man named William Murphy arrived in Marsh Valley. At that time it was an obscure place where few men had ventured. Murphy set up a toll bridge on the banks of the Portneuf, a river deemed so uncrossable that the Oregon Trail deviated 100 miles to avoid it. It was in a territory where the Government did not allow white men. He created The Murphy Cutoff that was immediately successful because it was faster and easier to get to the gold fields in Montana. His toll bridge over the Portneuf River very lucrative thanks to the thousands who crossed over it each year. Most folks called it The Crossing. Unfortunately, Murphey was a hot-headed Irishman who picked a fight at the wrong time when he pulled a gun in court and was shot by the sheriff.
Henry Harkness took over the toll bridge operations on the Portneuf River. He overcame continual government efforts to drive him out, and became one of the wealthiest men in Idaho. Folks called it the Harkness Ranch at that time. Harkness was a rancher after the toll operation closed when the railroad came through. He built a hotel, a huge ranch buildings, a roller mill and expanded his property holdings.
The first non-rancher to set up residence next to the Harkness Ranch was an 80-year-old polygamist just out of prison. Many of his friends and relatives followed him there. The 1902 land rush brought many more people who settled around the Harkness Ranch. It was about that time that Harkness decided to lay out the town of McCammon and welcome the people who had arrived.
Ironically, it was the Portneuf River that turned on Harkness, taking nearly all his possessions, most of his wealth, and all of his health. McCammon was untouched by the river and thrived well into its second half-century due to the hard work of the sons and daughters of those early pioneers.
The McCammon book tells the stories of Murphy, Harkness and dozens of others. The book has over 900 illustrations countless humorous stories about those early pioneers who made McCammon a remarkable Idaho frontier town.
