Pocatello, Idaho as a Railroad Center

P ),OCATELLO is a major railroad center of the Intermountain West. It is a key point on the Union Pacific, the only rail-line serving the principal populated areas of southern Idaho. Annually it handles a large volume of railroad traffic. By virtue of the city's position on its lines many Union Pacific activities have been localized in this community of twenty-one thousand population. Here is the headquarters of the railroads, the Idaho Division which includes the lines between McCammon, Idaho and Butte, Montana, and between Granger, Wyoming and Huntington, Oregon (Figure 1). Here are the largest Union Pacific shops between Cheyenne and the coast. Here also are a general storehouse, a tie treating plant, an icing plant, and other railroad facilities. Since this industry in normal times engages approximately 2,800 workers or 34 per cent of the gainfully employed persons in Pocatello, or considerably more than any other occupation, it is the city's dominant activity. This proportion of persons in railroading is thought to be unusually high for a town the size of Pocatello. The extent to which this is true illustrates the city's strategic position in the railroad pattern of eastern Idaho (Figure 1). Eastern Idaho and its Railroad Pattern -The principal farming districts in eastern Idaho are located near the southern edge of the River Plain. In this section water from Idaho's master stream, the River, and a number of tributaries, has been impounded and diverted to irrigate thousands of acres of rich farm land (Figure 2). In no other part of eastern Idaho, and indeed few places in the Int rmountain West, is there such favorable association of land and water resources as on the River Plain. The irrigated country near the River, frequently called the Snake River may be divided into two segments, the Upper River Valley and the Central River Valley (Figure 2). The Upper Valley extends roughly from Pocatello northeastward about 100 miles to the vicinity of St. Anthony. The Central Valley lies 70 miles southeast of Pocatello in the vicinity of Burley and Twin Falls. These two irrigated sections are the principal crop producing areas of eastern Idaho. Naturally they have a comparatively dense population. In fact three-quarters of the persons in this part of Idaho reside in the River Valley. The population of the Upper Valley, including Pocatello, approximates 100,000 persons while the Central Valley has some 80,000 inhabitants. Elsewhere throughout the territory the land is sparsely peopled and is used

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• Urban Geography in the United States

  Chauncy D Harris•Urban Geography•1990

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