*Pocatello Creek
From here you can get a glimpse of what brought many men and women
to Pocatello to settle down and build families and a community.
PHOS- Across I-86 is the J. R. Simplot Plant, producer of frozen
potatoes, vegetables, fertilizers, and beef cattle. This is where
Phosphorus is produced for fertilizers to be distributed to Idaho
farmers and the world. Each year, on the third weekend in February,
the Simplot Games are held in Holt Arena on the Idaho State
University campus . It is the nation's premier indoor track and
field event for high school athletes, and is featured annually on
national sports networks.
UP-April 14, 1881: The Oregon Short Line Railway was incorporated
in Wyoming. Construction of the line began in May at a connection
with Union Pacific at Granger, Wyoming. The tracks were completed
in the fall of 1882 to Pocatello. The round house from Logan and
the rail shop from Eagle Rock were both moved to Pocatello in 1886
increasing the rail yard and validating Pocatello the Gate City.
Pocatello’s boom was aided by the railroad industry. It was
once the largest rail center west of the Mississippi.
During World War II, more than 4,500 railroad cars passed
through the city’s yards daily.
SHALE- West of the Simplot plant stood FMC now being
de-constructed. Over the last 55 years in Southeast Idaho a group
of committed men and women as employees of FMC Corporation operated
the largest elemental phosphorus plant in the United States. The
phosphorus from this facility served multiple markets including
food applications, cleaning products, pharmaceuticals,
flame-retardants, hydraulic fluids, water treatment and more. But
due to changing markets and raw material requirements the flame
that burned from stack was extinguished in December of 2001 marking
the end of a rich manufacturing legacy.
!POCATELLO LOVES ENGINEERS!