The area of the city along the Portneuf River was inhabited by the Shoshoni and Bannock (tribe)Bannock peoples for several centuries before the arrival of Europeans into the area in the early 19th century. In 1834, Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth, a U.S. fur trader, established Fort Hall as a trading post north of the present location of the city. The post was later acquired by the Hudson's Bay Company and became an important stop on the Oregon Trail, a branch of which descended the Portneuf through the present-day location of the city. A replica of the Fort Hall trading post is now operated as museum in southern Pocatello. The discovery of gold in Idaho in 1860 brought the first large wave of U.S. settlers to the region. The Portneuf Valley became an important conduit for transportation of goods and freight. In 1877, railroad magnate Jay Gould of the Union Pacific Railroad acquired and extended the Utah and Northern Railway, which had previously stopped at the Utah border, into Idaho through the Portneuf Canyon. "Pocatello Junction", as it was first called, was founded as stop along this route during the gold rush. After the gold rush subsided, the region began to attract ranchers and farmers. By 1882, the first residences and commercial development appeared in Pocatello. In 1962 Pocatello absorbed nearby Alameda, IdahoAlameda and became for a time the largest city in Idaho. Pocatello remains one of the state's largest cities. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocatello%2C_Idaho

I was raised in Pocatello Idaho in the 1930's 40's and 50's. The common knowledge at that time was that land the town is on was purchased from the bannoch/shohone Indians in the early part of the 20th century making it one of the last towns to be established in Idaho. Because the Portnuef River flooded occasionally, a large portion of the southern end to the original town had it's grade (height of the surface of the earth) built up to the level of the elevated tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad. I would enjoy hearing from anyone who knows more about this. alsr@alsmithinc.com