Riding the Pony Express Trail

Dr. Lyman C. Pedersen, retired professor of U.S. and frontier history

It's always fun to begin a trip when winter begins to lose it's grasp on the land and everything begins to come alive once more. It was such a spring day that I was rolling along west on I-80 heading for Wendover and places beyond. When you drive that highway ghosts of the pioneer past always loom up in front of you. With Pilot Peak in the far distance and the always formidable salt flats a few feet away, I always see the Donner Party once more plodding their weary way west.

It's tempting to turn south at Rowley Junction and meander through Skull Valley to Iosepa and the site of Hope Springs, where the Donners found their last message from Lansford W. Hastings about the desert crossing ahead of them. His message to them about "two days, two nights, hard driving, cross desert, reach water" got them into the most serious trouble. But that's for another time. Today the goal was to reach the Pony Express Trail coming into Utah from Nevada.

Upon reaching Wendover I turned southwest on Highway 93 and then took the turn off to Ibapah. This little community is located in a lovely valley seemingly isolated from the rest of the world. The sound of the meadowlark and the occasional rushing of a breeze through the meadow reminds you that you are a long way from the bustle of modern society. It's fun to enter a quiet, unspoiled world like it is in this corner of Utah.

As I looked just north of Ibapah for the Pony Express Trail marker my thoughts were upon those tough, mostly young men who rode those lonely trails more than 135 years ago. Perhaps the idea started in the mining regions of California where riders on horseback delivered mail to the remote and grateful miners who were playing out their luck in the 1850's.

A San Francisco newspaper of 1860 carried the notice:

From the beginning the firm of Russell, Majors and Wadell poured thousands of dollars into their Pony Express adventure and yet it only lasted 18 months because of the coming of the telegraph in 1861. William F. Cody, or Buffalo Bill, who tried about everything a frontiersman could try, was one of those young express riders and later in life put on his fabulously successful Wild West Show.

By now I had the scent and entered the trail which carried riders from Nevada into Utah. I was grateful I had my four wheel drive truck under my gloved hands because the way was often tough going. The idea was to build a station every 15 or 20 miles, depending on sites available. Sometimes locations were chosen where there was no water. Most of the stations were originally made of logs but where rock was available it soon replaced the logs.

The first station was located at the Ibapah Trading Post about 1 1/2 miles north of the Ibapah Post Office. It is located on the old ranch of Howard Egan who was division superintendent for service between Salt Lake and Robert's Creek near Eureka, Nevada. This ranch on Deep Creek was the largest station west of Camp Floyd to the Nevada line and supplied other stations with hay, grain, fresh milk, vegetables and meat.

After about 13 miles on the old dirt road I reached Burn't Station. A monument there interestingly contains two horse shoes, one folded in half from the heat of a fire. Remnants have been found there of smoked china and melted glass, and also shards of a black bottle dating no later than about 1870.

Next on the trail is Round Station about 12 miles northwest of Callao at the mouth of Overland Canyon. This station replaced Burn't Station to serve the Overland Stage but not the Pony Express. Here at Round Station can be viewed the rock remains of a fortress like structure.

With blue skies overhead and the romance of the trail in my mind, my journey continued to Six Mile Station, or Willow Springs. The location is west of the road from Callao to Ibapah, six miles north of Callao. Before reaching this station I had the pleasure of seeing two antelope make graceful leaps across the dirt road in front of me and then disappear quickly. Willow Springs and the Bagley property is well worth the drive. David Bagley, descendant of Deep Creek pioneers and owner of the Willow Springs property, is a congenial host with a wealth of information. His grandfather carried poles by wagon for the first telegraph lines in that country. Behind his home are two of the oldest cottonwoods west of the Mississippi, dating back to the 1850's.

It was with a sense of leaving something valuable behind that I took a last look at the beautiful Deep Creek Mountains and once again took up the trail. Another 10 miles east of Callao brought me to Boyd Station where rock foundation walls are plainly visible. Earlier photos show gun ports which have now mostly crumbled away. The foundation of a barn lies to the northwest and some signs of a corral north of that. It's easy to see a night rider under a full moon arriving at Boyd station. It apparently was occupied by the Boyd family into the Twentieth Century.

About 23 miles east of Callao is Fish Springs. Here the Pony Express station was used as a ranch well into the Twentieth Century. Numerous springs are found here and it is a lovely and attractive site with trees and vegetation. A campground is available with all the amenities. A traveler here has the feeling of being so remote and yet at the same time comfortable and content. The peaceful air of Fish Springs makes you want to linger and for that reason as well as the lateness of the hour, I stayed overnight here with visions of Pony Express riders dancing through my mind. A stiff evening breeze made it difficult to get my Dutch oven stew going but the taste of that evening meal with biscuits and a cold drink made it all worthwhile. I sat by my truck contemplating the coming of the evening sky and all that I had seen that day.

As the evening wore on I was thrilled as if it was the first time in seeing the myriad of stars in the Heavens above. I wondered if a tired and lonely Pony Express rider of long ago sat by these springs and had the same thoughts I did about those stars. If so did he think of a family or sweetheart so far away and did he wonder if they thought of him. At length I stretched out my sleeping bag on the ground by my truck and settled in for a good night's rest with a gentle breeze and the stars dancing overhead. I wondered what tomorrow would bring.

The morning was clear and bright as I prepared bacon and hotcakes for breakfast under the shade of some spreading willow trees. After a quick loading up of gear I was soon on the trail again eager to follow the young express riders once more. The road winds away from Fish Springs and over the early morning smoothness of the various springs I could see an assortment of lake and shore birds. After rolling for 10 enjoyable miles I soon came to Blackrock Station about 90 yards from the CCC monument. The site of the station consists of eight rock piles looking more like grave sites near the black basalt mesa for which the site was named.

This corner of Utah is remote and yet so inviting to the traveler who yearns for open country unspoiled by modern sprawl. You may travel many miles, enjoying the far away vistas, without seeing another vehicle. Eating up the miles I soon came to the Dugway Station site east of the pass between the Thomas and Dugway mountain ranges, and about 16 miles West of Simpson Springs. The site consists of a depression and a rock pile northeast of a CCC monument.

Another 8 miles along the Pony Express road brought me to the site of the Riverbed Station and a rewarding half an hour visit. The site consists of some of the original trail and wagon road. Some 60 yards north of the monument and almost adjacent to the road is an undisturbed depression. It's always exciting to see a little stretch of what was almost certainly the trail over which those lonesome riders made their dash so long ago. North of the monument is a pile of rocks which may be the remains of a fireplace.

The road beckoned me and rolling along another 8 miles I came to one of the most interesting sites on the whole trip, Simpson Springs. This station has been mostly restored and stands near a monument with an explanatory marker. Nearby are rock remains of what might have been a Sibley tent foundation or perhaps an animal pen. A traveler would wish to spend some time at this station for the view is magnificent. With field glasses I enjoyed some time scanning the far distant ranges of mountains with endless exploring possibilities. The afternoon sun and passing clouds changed swiftly the hues and colors of the parched and lonely desert country stretching to far away horizons.

There is and always has been a reliable source of water at this station. It also contains the foundation walls of a CCC camp built in the 1930's and the remains of the old Anderson cabin.

With reluctance I was once more in the saddle of Big Blue and heading east. Eight miles from Lookout Pass I came to Government Creek station which consists of two rock alignments and a circle of scattered rocks. This site was certainly a stage station and was perhaps a Pony Express station also. Each of the stations had its own unique qualities.

Another 8 miles took me to Lookout Pass which had been named General Johnston's Pass in the Simpson survey of 1876. At this site there is an L-shaped configuration of rocks with the original road entering from the northeast. The rock alignment and the old road are plainly visible. From 1873 to 1885 Horace Rockwell, Porter Rockwell's brother, and his wife Libby, lived in a small log cabin at this site. According to some accounts the stone enclosure to the south contains three human grave sites and the remains of Rockwell's pet dogs.

From Lookout Pass my journey carried me into Rush Valley to the site of Faust Station, named for the station keeper "Doc" Faust or, sometimes called Meadow Creek. Crossing Rush Valley to the East Rush Valley Station marker and then on to Camp Floyd and Fairfield was a pleasant ride with the ever changing cloud formations of a gathering storm and the sunlight piercing the clouds constantly changing the colors and hues of the land.

The Pony Express station site in Fairfield is adjacent to the old Fairfield School. The restored Carson's Inn here catered to stage coach traffic but not the Pony Express.

Nearby Camp Floyd or old Camp Crittenden of the Utah War period is another story for another day.

Young riders bound for Salt Lake City rode on from Fairfield to the station known as Joe's Dugout on the pass between Utah Valley and Cedar Valley. It is on private land and permission to enter must be obtained. The trail then led to Porter Rockwell's Hot Springs Brewery Hotel south of where the Utah State Prison now stands. The site consists of a row of brownish-yellow quartzite rocks similar to those used in the Pony Express monument northwest of the I-15 exit for Highway 140.

A rider's journey was almost complete when he next reached the station on State Street in Murray called Traveler's Rest. Ironically, this was the same title given by Lewis and Clark to their last camp south of Missoula, Montana, before crossing the Bitteroot Mountains over the Lolo Trail into Idaho. The site in Murray is about nine miles from downtown Salt Lake, on the west side of State Street at about 6400 South. The journey was done when the rider and his horse reached Salt Lake House at the site of the present Salt Lake Tribune building at 143 South Main Street.

The last dust from those intrepid and courageous Pony Express riders has long ago settled on the western desert and their shouts to their horses have been carried away by yesterday's winds, but it's still more than easy from the heights above Simpson Springs to look with a longing eye at that vast and quiet desert for the puffs of dust marking the passing of a young rider toward his destination. It's rewarding to sit in the shade of the Cottonwoods at Willow Springs in the late afternoon and contemplate the thoughts of those men who more than 135 years ago thundered across that lonely country to their appointed journey's end.

A most rewarding journey too for a traveler today.