Pocatello routinely switches places with Idaho Falls as the fourth/fifth largest city in the state and the largest city in the Eastern Idaho region. In 2007, Pocatello was ranked number twenty on Forbes' list of Best Small Places for Business and Careers.

Pocatello is home of Idaho State University and ON Semiconductor. Founded as an important stop on the first railroad in Idaho during the gold rush, the city later became an important center for agriculture. It is located along the Portneuf River where it emerges from the mountains onto the Snake River Plain, along the route of the Oregon Trail. The name comes from Chief Pocatello, a chief of the Shoshoni who granted the right-of-way for the railroad across the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. The city is served by the Pocatello Regional Airport.

The area of the city along the Portneuf River was inhabited for several years by the Shoshoni and 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 and became for a time the largest city in Idaho. Pocatello remains one of the state's largest cities.

Web Sites:

Chamber of Commerce: http://www.pocatelloidaho.com/

Hotels / Motels:

Ride Idaho Camping
Idaho State University Campus
921 South 8th Avenue

Ameritel Inn (2.6 miles from campsite)
1440 Bench Road
(208) 234-7500

Holiday Inn (2.6 miles from campsite)
1399 Bench Road
(866) 270-5110

Best Western Inn Cotton Tree Inn (2.6 miles from campsite)
1415 Bench Road
(208) 237-7650

Red Lion Pocatello (2.5 miles from campsite)
1555 Pocatello Creek Road
(208) 233-1219

Rodeway Inn – University (1.3 miles from campsite)
835 S. Fifth Avenue
(208) 233-0451

Towneplace Suites by Marriott (1.0 mile from campsite)
2376 Via Caporatti
(208) 478-7000

Ramada (4.8 miles from campsite)
133 W. Burnside Avenue
(208) 237-0020