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A lush green valley appeared in front of the early 1800s French-Canadian fur-trappers like an oasis rising out of the dry, brown high desert. Overcome with excitement, they are rumored to have exclaimed "Les Bois! Les Bois!", literally translated as "the wooded" in French. This historic utterance not only named a city, but also established Boise's nickname, "City of Trees."
The Hudson Bay Company established Fort Boise in 1834 about 40 miles west of present day Boise. Thousands of people, making the long journey from Missouri to Oregon on the Oregon Trail, traveled through the Boise valley. Boise was built in the crossroads of the Oregon Trail and the Boise Basin and Owyhee mountain gold mines.
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