Since 1882, when trains reached Shoshone, it has been south central Idaho’s rail center. Branch rail lines to Wood River and Camas Prairie served distant farmers and miners, while a stage line to Shoshone Falls accommodated wealthy tourists visiting Idaho’s foremost nineteenth-century attraction. Vast sheep grazing lands made Shoshone a major early center for Basque herders, and the use of lava rock in building construction gave the town a distinctive historic character.