The point of departure for the ferry (in 1941 the fee was $1 for cars and passengers) to the north bank of the Snake River. Today, Lyons Ferry State Park marks the site of the ferry, which ceased operations.

The snake river rises in a lake region of Yellowstone National Park and flows through Wyoming and Idaho along the northeast border of Oregon and enters Washington at Clarkston. From that point it flows northwest, west, and southwest to the Columbia River at Pasco. Capt. William Clark named it Lewis River in 1805 for his associate Capt. Meriwether Lewis. The present name is for the Snake Indians who once lived along the stream. Other names that have been given from time to time are Lewis Fork of the Columbia River, and Lewis and Clark’s River.