More History

What's This Place All About?

Area History
The importance of Arco in the past is the same as it is today-it serves as the crossroads of Idaho. The Shoshone traveled through the area on an annual migration to find food, the mountain men passed by while looking for beaver in nearby streams, and the emigrants drove their wagons into the area as they followed one of the routes taken by the Oregon Tail. Later, miners and then ranchers and farmers began to settle the area.

A 1967 guide to Idaho stated that "… Butte County has probably retained more spirit of the old west than any other county in the state of Idaho." That spirit still exists here today.

Idaho Science Center
The seemingly out-of-place submarine sail at the entrance to Arco is the first stage in the development of an Idaho Science Center. This monolithic memorial was once part of the USS Hawkbill, a nuclear submarine built in 1969.

This sail now serves as the centerpiece of a planned development that will stress the role made by the INL to the understanding of nuclear power and of the forty thousand US Navy Sailors who trained for nuclear submarine duty at the this site.