Tribes Devise Tourism Plan

The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes have a plan for promoting tourism with a 24-1/2-mile stretch of track between Fort Hall and the old Gay Mine site that Union Pacific Railroad wants to tear up.

If the track stays, the tribes would consider building an Indian village and letting a 300-head buffalo herd graze in the pasture along the way.

“The Oregon Trail runs right along the Gay Line right-of-way,” Tribal Chairman Delbert Farmer told Idaho utilities regulators Thursday. “People are fascinated with history, the sentimental value of the pioneers. We are wise enough to take advantage to make a clean dollar off what people want.”