Host City

Host City

Pocatello, considered the “Gateway to the West”, has also been called the “Gate City” for more than a century.  Through the Portneuf Gap south of town, the highway to Pocatello leads to the Pacific Northwest, Yellowstone and Teton National Parks, Craters of the Moon and the Salmon River country.  This pass between the mountains, an ancient trail of indigenous hunter-gatherers, was followed in the 1800s by mountain men, explorers, pioneers, military, gold seekers, and trainmen.

Pocatello, home to a broad portion of Idaho heritage, is a place where the old west and modern America live closely together.  Named for a 19th Century Shoshone leader who became known as “Chief Pocatello”, the city is easy to locate on the internet, and it is the only town of this name in the world.  Pocatello is the Bannock county seat.

Portneuf Valley before the Railroad

Pocatello’s prehistory began millions of years ago with major volcanic eruptions.  Three dormant volcanos can be seen on the plain to the northwest of the city.  Pocatello has a dry climate, with mild summers and cool winters.  The surrounding mountains protect Pocatello from much of the snow and frigid weather of the area.

Historically, the Pocatello area was the wintering grounds for indigenous family groups and trappers.  In the late 1820s Peter Scene Ogden led the Hudson’s Bay Snake Brigade to set up a camp on the Snake at the mouth of the Portneuf near the rich beaver area.  The Brigade of nearly 100 members included trappers, their wives and children.  Due to severe weather, Ogden moved his camp south about 20 miles to the more moderate climate area that is now Pocatello.  In 1834 Nathaniel Wyeth built Fort Hall, an 80 foot square stockade constructed from cottonwood logs a few miles from Ogden’s original camp site.

In 1847 the Mormons settled near the Great Salt Lake and established trade with Fort Hall.  Over the next several years Mormon settlers gradually moved north into what is now Idaho, founding several small communities.  The 1862 discovery of gold in Montana caused a dramatic increase of freight wagons and stage coaches between Salt Lake City and Montana along Bannock Creek.  In 1864 William Murphy built a cabin and a bridge over the Portneuf south of present day Pocatello near what is now McCammon.

In the early 1870s Mormon officials began work to build the Utah and Northern Railroad into Idaho.  In 1872 Ferdinand Hayden was commissioned to survey and find the best route north.  Hayden endorsed the route up the Portneuf opening at the gap onto the Snake River plain.  By 1878 the Oregon Short Line Railroad was established to construct a railway to Oregon.

Early Pocatello

The junction of the two railroads was listed as “Pocatello Junction”.  Over the next few years Pocatello Junction had no official government and gained a reputation as an unruly, “wild and wooly” western town.  In 1887 it was ordered that the railroad shops located at Eagle Rock and other locations should be consolidated at Pocatello Junction, thus leading to a need for more land to accommodate the growing population.  Because the railroad’s land had been carved from the Fort Hall Reservation, new official government action was needed.  A Congressional Act on February 23, 1889 allocated additional land and Pocatello became the only town founded by an act of congress.

Largely due to the railroad, early Pocatello had the most diverse ethnic population in Idaho.  The growing city was home to the largest percentage of Italians, Greeks, Japanese, Native Americans, African Americans, and Latin Americans of any Idaho city, and was also home to a significant number of Chinese.  On the streets, in businesses, schools and churches, people were speaking German, Danish, Swedish, Mandarin, and Welsh in addition to English.

Following a land rush in 1902 Pocatello really began to grow.  As very few eastern Idaho communities had schooling beyond the eighth grade, the need for education at the high school level was soon filled by the Idaho Legislature with establishment of the Academy of Idaho in 1901.  On land donated by the city, the academy was to prosper and grow into what is today Idaho State University.

Pocatello Between the Wars

Pocatello continued to grow and prosper with the expansion of the railroad, although impacted by the United States’ participation in World War I during the first quarter of the Twentieth Century.

On the heels of the Great Depression, Pocatello made a significant contribution to the United States and Allied victory in World War II.  The Naval Ordinance Plant and the Pocatello Air Base were established shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  The location was ideal for a number of reasons.  It was safe from air attack, inland far from the coast, it was a major railroad junction, a section of the transcontinental highway ran through the town, and to the northwest there was plenty of open space.  The site was perfect to refurbish big naval guns and for training pilots and aircrews of the United States Army Air Force.  An unpopulated area 20 miles from Arco, Idaho became a firing range to test the naval guns before they were sent back to their ships on the west coast.

The Pocatello Air Base was assigned as the Second Air Force 382nd.  It was the training center for B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers and was known to have the longest runways in Idaho at the time.  Thousands of men and boys, among them many members of the 464th, trained in Pocatello.  The late Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona was one of the trainers.

Pocatello Today

Pocatello’s closest northern neighbor, City of Chubbuck, was established on December 6, 1949.  Both communities share a similar heritage and have continued to prosper through all periods of change.  Idaho State University remains a major player in the community.  Various industries have come and gone; new ones take their place in the local economy and new housing developments are going up all around the area.

Pocatello is a great place to live and visit!  Old Town Pocatello has become a showplace for many buildings designed by Frank Paradice.  It is vibrant and alive with shops, restaurants, boutiques, antique stores and other businesses of interest to locals and visitors alike.  City parks are convenient to most neighborhoods and are crowned by Ross Park (named for C. Ben Ross, a former Governor of Idaho from Pocatello) which contains an aquatic complex, amphitheater, skate park, Veterans’ Memorial, and picnic areas.  It is also home to the Zoo Idaho and the Historical Complex, housing the Bannock County Historical Museum, the Fort Hall Trading Post, and Pocatello Junction.

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