IDAHO: The Atom Comes to Town

When the news hit, the telephone operators in Arco's one-room exchange above the Dee Hotel plugged in every line in Butte County, ringing telephones all up & down the Big Lost River Valley. A man from Pocatello, who had just been offered a one-story building for $10,000, walked across the street to look at another site. When he got back, he found the price had jumped to $17,500. Soon, jalopies were pounding into town and Arco's streets were jammed with jubilant wheat farmers and ranchers, shouting, cheering and recklessly counting their future wealth. The Atomic Energy Commission had...