Editing Cassia County, Idaho (section)

==History==
The first Europeans explored the Milner area in Cassia County in 1811. It was trappers who initially developed the Oregon Trail, which ran on the county's northern border. The Raft River's junction with the Oregon Trail marked the split for the California Trail.

While the Oregon and California trails brought hundreds of thousands of emigrants through Cassia County, it also brought settlers. A stage line through the county was established between Kelton, Utah and Boise, Idaho in 1869. A stage station existed at City of Rocks. Additional stations were spaced at increments of 10–12 miles between stations to include one at Oakley Meadows, in the Goose Creek valley two miles west of the present settlement of Oakley.

William Oakley settled at the Oakley Meadows station in 1870. Cattle operations also developed starting in 1872. Settlement began at nearby Albion in 1873 with significant Mormon settlement in 1875. By 1880, Albion had a population of 257. Mormon settlement at Oakley also began on June 1, 1878, when four Mormon men each staked out 160 acres for their settlement. Settlements remained primarily agricultural with more than 38,000 head of cattle in the area by 1885. Settlement at Malta occurred prior to 1890, as the Malta precinct had 172 residents at the 1890 census.

Albion State Normal School was established at Albion in 1893. The school was focused on training Idaho teachers until 1951 when its programs were transferred to Idaho State College (now Idaho State University) in Pocatello.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Boothe|first1=Wayne|title=A History of the Latter-Day Saint Settlement of Oakley|date=1963|publisher=Brigham Young University|location=Provo|pages=7–8, 14–16, 22–25|url=http://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5542&context=etd|access-date=February 7, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedic history of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints|date=1941|publisher=Deseret News|location=Salt Lake City|page=10|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89067406256;view=1up;seq=22|access-date=February 7, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Report on the Population of the United States at the Eleventh Census: 1890|url=https://archive.org/details/reportonpopulati00unit|date=1895|publisher=Government Printing Office|location=Washington|pages=[https://archive.org/details/reportonpopulati00unit/page/99 99]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Albion State Normal School History|url=http://albioncampusretreat.com/history.html|website=Albion Campus Retreat|access-date=February 7, 2017}}</ref>

Burley was platted and settled in 1905 after a branch of the Oregon Shortline was constructed through the town. Declo was settled under the name of Marshfield by 1909.<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedic History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints|date=1941|publisher=Deseret News|location=Salt Lake City|pages=98, 176|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89067406256;view=1up;seq=188|access-date=February 7, 2017}}</ref>

Cassia County was created from [[Owyhee County, Idaho|Owyhee County]] on February 20, 1879, with Albion becoming the county seat.<ref>[http://www.state.id.us/aboutidaho/county/cassia.html Idaho.gov - Cassia County] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090803142014/http://www.state.id.us/aboutidaho/county/cassia.html |date=August 3, 2009}} accessed May 29, 2009</ref> A western portion became [[Twin Falls County, Idaho|Twin Falls County]] in 1907. The county assumed its present boundaries when an eastern portion became [[Power County, Idaho|Power County]] on January 30, 1913. The county seat was moved to Burley in 1918. The county was named for Cassia Creek, which in turn was named either for John Cazier, a member of the [[Mormon Battalion]] and an emigrant train captain, or for a plant found in the area.