I witnessed a number of occasions in the late 1980s when water was right up to the ties in those cuts between Fish Lake and South Cheney, but never saw anything that shut the railroad down. It's quite possible there were days of closure I was not made aware of. Over the long history of the SP&S and BN running there, I'm sure those cuts had their moments of trouble.

Today, when you walk or bike the Fish Lake Trail in late winter on into spring, the water is flowing heavy on both sides of the old ROW. By late summer, there's still enough water seeping in through a number of springs to keep a slight flow going, enough to support the frogs, turtles, and snakes that live along the trail's edge.

Farther south, however, the SP&S was prone to rock and mud slides in the hilly terrain either side of Cow Creek bridge, and much more so in @#$%& Canyon and along portions of the Snake River. UP still manages to operate its nearby Ayer Sub through territory fraught with similar risk factors.