History Corner - In Search of Rattlesnake Creek

Mountain Home owes its existence to Rattlesnake Creek. Of course, Mountain Home is a railroad town, and the Elmore County Historical Society and E Clampus Vitus put a plaque in Railroad Park to tell us that. The “Rattlesnake Station” information display heading out on Highway 20 concurs.

Early locomotives ran on steam. They needed water, and a lot of it. On flat terrain with an average load, it took about 1,000 gallons of water for a steam locomotive to travel just 15 miles.

Until the diesel locomotive came around in the 1940s, traveling by train meant hopping from water depot to water depot.

For the full story, pick up a copy of the Mountain Home News or click on this link to subscribe to the newspaper’s online edition.