Shoshone, Idaho: From Bottoms to Naples to Shoshone
Shoshone, Idaho, had three names in about a year: it was Bottoms until railroad officials changed it to Naples in 1882 and then to Shoshone in 1883. The last one, the name of the Shoshone people, is the one that stuck.
Bottoms, Naples, Shoshone
The Geological Survey’s place-name record for the town tells the whole sequence in two sentences. The place was “earlier Bottoms, which the UPRR officials changed to Naples in 1882 and to Shoshone in 1883,” and it was “established as a construction camp by the railroad in 1882.” UPRR stands for the Union Pacific Railroad, and the line through town was its Oregon Short Line. The 1937 Idaho guide from the Federal Writers’ Project agrees that the town, “founded in 1882, was first called Naples.”
None of these sources says why the officials dropped Naples, or who picked the new name. What you get is the result. The guide says the name is “of course, a corruption of Shoshoni,” and that people pronounced it both “Shoshone and Shosho-nee.” It also says Shoshoni is “an Indian word meaning Great Spirit,” but it gives no source for that, and nothing here backs up the translation, so take it as the guide’s claim, not a settled meaning.
The division point that went to Pocatello
The railroad had big plans for the place. In his 1920 History of Idaho, James H. Hawley writes that Shoshone “was at first selected by the railroad officials for a division terminal, but trouble over the townsite caused the division point to be established at Pocatello.” That’s how Pocatello became the division point, and Shoshone, which later became the seat of Lincoln County, got a junction instead.
The first train got there on February 7, 1883. It was a work train; Hawley says the first passenger train didn’t arrive until nearly a month later. Shoshone sits where the Ketchum branch leaves the main line, and on the 1955 map you can still see the tracks fanning out from town. The railroad never got its division point here, but it left behind the name its officials chose.
Quick answers
What was Shoshone, Idaho, called before?
Bottoms, and then Naples. Railroad officials changed Bottoms to Naples in 1882 and Naples to Shoshone in 1883, according to the Geological Survey’s record.
Who named Shoshone, Idaho?
Union Pacific officials, says the Geological Survey’s record. No source here names the person who chose it or says why.
Does Shoshone mean “Great Spirit”?
That’s what the 1937 Idaho guide says, but it gives no evidence, and no linguistic source here supports it. Treat it as unconfirmed.
How do you pronounce Shoshone, Idaho?
The 1937 Idaho guide says both “Shoshone” and “Shosho-nee” were in use.
Key dates
- 1882The railroad sets up a construction camp, and its officials change the name Bottoms to Naples.
- 1883The name becomes Shoshone. On February 7 the first train, a work train, arrives.
Getting there
Open Shoshone in Google Maps
Opens in a new tab. The pin is the center of Shoshone in the USGS place-name record.
The closest airports, Amtrak stations and intercity bus stops, measured in a straight line from the center of Shoshone.
Airports
- Joslin Field/Magic Valley Regional (TWF) Twin Falls 32 mi 51 km
- Friedman Memorial (SUN) Hailey 40 mi 64 km
- Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field (BOI) 101 mi 163 km
Intercity buses
- Salt Lake Express Shoshone under 1 mi 0 km
Distances are as the crow flies, not by road. We don't list schedules or fares because they change; check with the airline, Amtrak or the bus company before you go. Official data (FAA commercial service airports (2025), FAA airport locations, Amtrak stations and Intercity Bus Atlas) from the FAA and the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, checked Nov 6, 2026.
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Historical Sources & References
- GNIS feature 400083 (U.S. Geological Survey). Shoshone’s gazetteer record and coordinates, in Lincoln County, with its history note: Bottoms, Naples in 1882, Shoshone in 1883, and the 1882 construction camp.
- James H. Hawley, ed., History of Idaho, vol. 1 (1920), pp. 790, 793. The division terminal that went to Pocatello, the first train of February 7, 1883, and the junction with the Ketchum branch.
- Federal Writers’ Project, Idaho: A Guide in Word and Picture (1937), p. 287. “First called Naples”; “a corruption of Shoshoni”; the two pronunciations.
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