The Spud Drive In and the Railroad
Near Driggs, Idaho
Just south of Driggs stands one of the most photographed roadside sights in Idaho, the Spud Drive In. Its sign is a giant potato riding on the flatbed of a vintage truck, a cheerful monument to the crop that built this valley. A local is said to have opened the drive in theater in the middle of the last century, in the heart of potato country, and against long odds it has survived where most drive in theaters across the country closed decades ago.
On summer nights people still park in the gravel lot, tune the movie in on their car radios, and watch films with the Tetons fading to silhouette behind the screen. The Spud is a fitting emblem of a valley whose fortunes were tied to potatoes and to the railroad that carried them. The Oregon Short Line reached the valley in the early nineteen hundreds, ending the valley's isolation and letting farmers ship seed potatoes out and goods in far more quickly than wagons ever could.
That same rail line also brought tourists headed toward the Tetons and Yellowstone. The trains are gone now, but the giant potato on the truck still greets everyone who drives the highway through Teton Valley.
