History:
In the late 1870's men pushed into Montana hoping to mine the precious ore from the mountains. But the mining operations needed support; they needed a railroad to bring in equipment and food for miners. As a consequence of the railroad and mining activities, many men were exposed to the fertile Snake River Valley. Later some of these men returned to the valley and claimed land, a privilege granted by the Homestead Act of 1862.

The Rexburg area in its infancy revealed a much different picture than we see today. It was very sparsely settled with only a few fur trappers and an occasional cattle operation. The first known white men into the area were fur trappers. One man who continued trapping in the Rexburg area was the colorful Richard Leigh otherwise known as "Beaver Dick".

Interest in the Rexburg area seemed to quicken in 1879, however, when a man named John Poole spent some time hunting around Menan while employed by the Utah Northern Railroad. Poole returned to Utah and told of good farmland in the area. Mormon Church people heard Poole's praises and in 1882 the Mormon President, John Taylor, instructed W. B. Preston and Thomas E. Ricks to make a trip to the Upper Snake River Valley to scout out a site for a settlement.