Railroad History of Island Park: The Oregon Short Line and the Birth of Yellowstone Tourism
11 min read · Updated June 2026
Before the Rails (1870s)
When Yellowstone became the world's first national park in 1872 — see The Creation of Yellowstone — reaching it was an ordeal. The nearest railhead was Corinne, Utah, more than 300 miles south. Visitors faced a brutal multi-day stagecoach journey across southern Idaho and the volcanic plateau of the Henry's Fork. The country we now call Island Park was a near-empty plain of lodgepole pine and meadow, used only by Nimíipuu and Shoshone hunting parties and the occasional fur trapper.
In 1877, only a handful of trails crossed the area — the same corridors used by the Nez Perce during their flight through Targhee Pass. Steam, not horses, would change that.
The Oregon Short Line Arrives
The Oregon Short Line Railroad was chartered in 1881 as a Union Pacific subsidiary, intended to give UP a competitive route to the Pacific Northwest. By the mid-1880s it had crossed southern Idaho and built a critical division point at Pocatello, which remains a Union Pacific hub today. A branch — the St. Anthony Branch — was extended north through the potato country of the Snake River plain to St. Anthony and Ashton, Idaho by 1899.
Ashton became the staging point for the next great push: a 60-mile climb up the Henry's Fork canyon and across the high plateau to the western boundary of Yellowstone.
The Yellowstone Branch & West Yellowstone
The Yellowstone Branch was completed to the Montana state line in 1907. On June 11, 1908, regular passenger service began into a brand-new terminus that had not existed at all the year before — the town of West Yellowstone, Montana. The town site was platted by the railroad, and the elegant stone-and-log Union Pacific Depot (1909) and adjoining Dining Lodge became the architectural anchor you can still visit today.
For background on how the rails reshaped park visitation, see Railroad Tourism in Yellowstone and the connected story of Yellowstone's historic lodges — most of which were built specifically to receive rail passengers.
Harriman, the Railroad Ranch & Island Park
The railroad that built West Yellowstone was controlled by one of the most powerful men in America: Edward H. Harriman, president of Union Pacific. Beginning in 1902, Harriman and his friends — including the Guggenheim family — quietly bought up working ranches along the Henry's Fork to create a private retreat. The 16,000-acre property became known as the Railroad Ranch, and for 75 years it was reached largely by private rail car set out at the small Island Park siding. The full story of that estate is told in our article on the Harriman Railroad Ranch.
The Yellowstone Branch is also the reason Island Park has its famously absurd 33-mile main street — towns grew up as long ribbons along the highway that replaced the rails. See The 33-Mile Main Street of Island Park for that quirky chapter.
The Tourist Boom (1908–1960)
From 1908 through the late 1950s, the Oregon Short Line's Yellowstone Special ran summer-season Pullman service from Salt Lake City and Pocatello directly to West Yellowstone. Arriving guests stepped off the train and into a fleet of yellow open-touring buses operated by the Yellowstone Park Company — the iconic "yellow buses" still used (in restored form) today. Visitor numbers exploded: the park went from roughly 5,000 visitors in 1895 to more than 200,000 by 1929, the vast majority arriving by rail.
The rails also brought the first generation of dedicated fly anglers to the Henry's Fork — see History of Fly Fishing the Henry's Fork. During the same period, similar rail-era development reshaped the Tetons — covered in The Dude Ranch Era.
Diesel, Highways & Decline
The automobile killed the passenger railroad — slowly at first, then all at once. Yellowstone admitted private cars in 1915, and the postwar interstate boom of the 1950s funneled families onto US-20 and US-191 with their own station wagons. The Yellowstone Special made its final passenger run on September 11, 1960. Freight service hung on for a few more decades, but the Yellowstone Branch was eventually abandoned, and most of the track between Ashton and West Yellowstone was lifted.
The old grade is still visible from US-20 in many places — long, straight cuts through the lodgepole, gentle curves around the rim of the Island Park Caldera. It is one of the great ghost railroads of the American West.
(source: nps.gov)
Tracing the Tracks Today
You can still walk into the original 1909 Union Pacific Depot in West Yellowstone — it now houses the Yellowstone Historic Center Museum, with original Pullman fittings, ticket windows, and photographs of arriving guests in the 1920s. Across the parking lot, the Dining Lodge has been beautifully restored. Together they are the most complete surviving piece of the Oregon Short Line tourist era.
Several pieces of right-of-way are now part of the Yellowstone Branch Line Rail Trail, a developing multi-use path that uses the gently graded railbed for cycling, hiking, and snowmobiling.
Railroad History You Can Visit
Union Pacific Depot & Yellowstone Historic Center (West Yellowstone, MT)
The 1909 stone-and-log depot, restored as a museum. About 35 minutes from the cabin via US-20 over Targhee Pass.
Yellowstone Branch Line Rail Trail
Sections accessible from Reas Pass and Big Springs trailheads — gentle grade ideal for families.
Harriman State Park
The original Railroad Ranch headquarters, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Ashton, ID
Once the main staging town for the line — still hosts the Idaho Spud Day festival that began in the railroad era.
Old Faithful Inn (Yellowstone NP)
Built in 1904 specifically to receive rail-era guests — see historic lodges.
Dates and ridership figures here are drawn from National Park Service, Union Pacific Historical Society, and Yellowstone Historic Center materials and may vary slightly between sources. Confirm seasonal museum and visitor-center hours before traveling.