Pony Express Division Three – Horseshoe Creek, Wyoming to Salt Lake City, Utah

The saga of the Pony Express, a fleeting but iconic chapter in American history, is etched across the landscapes of the West. This daring mail delivery service, operating for a mere 19 months between 1860 and 1861, relied on a network of strategically placed stations where riders could swiftly change horses and continue their urgent journeys. Division Three of the Pony Express Trail, encompassing 46 stations, played a crucial role in connecting the East and West. This division, the second-largest in the Central Overland California & Pike’s Peak Express Company’s Pony Express, only surpassed in size by Division Five, stretched from Horseshoe Creek, Wyoming, to Salt Lake City, Utah. Let’s embark on a journey along this historic route, exploring the landscapes and the remnants of these vital stations.

Division Three presented a formidable challenge, traversing the diverse terrain of the American West. From Horseshoe Creek, Pony Express Division Three riders faced the vast, arid expanse of Wyoming’s high desert, a landscape characterized by sagebrush flats and rugged buttes. The trail then ascended into the imposing Rocky Mountains, navigating treacherous passes and winding through dense forests. Emerging from the mountains, the route descended into the Wyoming Basin, a broad, relatively flat expanse before encountering the Green River. Finally, the riders and their steeds had to overcome the steep and rocky Wasatch Range before reaching the destination: Salt Lake City, Utah.

The success of the Pony Express Division Three depended on the efficient operation of its relay stations. These stations, spaced approximately 10-15 miles apart, provided fresh horses for the riders, allowing them to maintain a grueling pace. Life at these remote outposts was often harsh and lonely, with station keepers responsible for the care of the horses, the security of the mail, and the provision of basic necessities for the riders.

Here is a closer look at some of the stations that comprised Pony Express Division Three, starting in Wyoming and moving westward into Utah:

Wyoming:

• Elk Horn Station: Historians pinpoint Elk Horn as the first station west of Horseshoe Creek, located ten miles from Horseshoe Pony Express Station and 15 miles from La Bonte Station. The old Emigrant Road crosses Elkhorn Creek just north of the station site.

• LaBonte/LaBonte Station: Following Elk Horn, La Bonte Station was a Pony Express stop. In August 1860, the route changed to include La Bonte as a station for an unknown reason. Before this, only a stock corral existed. Stagecoaches also stopped at LaBonte but used a separate site from the Pony Express station. It’s 15 miles from Elk Horn Station and 10 miles from Bed Tick Station.

• Bed Tick Station: The 1861 Overland Mail Company contract listed Bed Tick as a passenger/mail station stop. It was located 10 miles from LaBonta Station and 8 miles from Lapierelle Station on the south side of Bedtick Creek.

• Lapierelle/La Prele Station: Also listed in the 1861 Overland Mail Company contract as a passenger/mail station stop. It was located 8 miles from Bed Tick Station and 10 miles from Box Elder Station on the south side of La Prele Creek and just north of the old Emigrant Road. Four miles west of LaPrele Station, the Kelly-Larimer Wagon Train was attacked in July 1864.

• Box Elder (Creek) Station: Little is known about Box Elder Creek Station other than it served as a Pony Express station. Managed by a man named Wheeler, it also served as a passenger/mail stage stop under the 1861 Overland Mail Company contract. It was located 10 miles from Lapierelle Station and 10 miles from Deer Creek Station south of Box Elder Creek.

• Deer Creek Station: Appearing on the 1861 Overland Mail Company contract, Deer Creek was a station for the Pony Express. Before the Pony Express, it was an Indian trading post during the 1850s. In 1860, it became a "home station" for the Pony Express. In 1861, it gained a telegraph station. Structures at Deer Creek included Indian Agent Major Twiss’ headquarters, a post office, a store, and a saloon. The property was owned by an Indian Trader named Bisonette, who was the Station Keeper for a while. A marker is on the southwest corner of Fourth and Cedar Streets, in front of the schoolyard in Glenrock, Wyoming.

  A remarkable act of courage by pony rider Henry Avis resulted in a $300 bonus for bravery. Marauding Sioux Indians were on the warpath. Avis changed horses and rode into the night. He reached Deer Creek only to find the station abandoned. With the eastbound pony rider refusing to ride further, Avis took the saddle, returning to Horseshoe Station; without a rest, he had covered 220 dangerous miles.

• Little Muddy Station: Located near Little Muddy Creek, the stone station, erected without mortar, reportedly stood ten miles west of Deer Creek. However, its exact location has not been identified.

• Bridger Station: Named after frontiersman Jim Bridger, the Overland Mail Company contract of 1861 identifies this station as located between Deer Creek and North Platte/Fort Casper. It was located 10 miles from Deer Creek Station and 15 miles from North Platte Station, west of Muddy Creek and north of the Old Emigrant Trail.

• Platte Bridge/Fort Casper/North Platte Station: Appearing on the 1861 Overland Mail Company contract, historical sources name North Platte or Fort Casper as the location of this station. Other sources mention Platte Bridge Station, on the North Platte River. Most historians list the site as the predecessor of Fort Caspar. Louis Guinard built the Platte Bridge for $40,000 and soon added a trading post.

  Guinard’s post became an Overland Stage Company stage stop from 1859-1862, a Pony Express relay station in 1860-1861, and home to a telegraph line in October 1861, when the Pacific Telegraph Company added an office.

• Red Buttes Station: Located on a ridge overlooking the North Platte River at Bessemer Bend. William “Buffalo Bill” Cody, one of the youngest Pony Express riders, made the longest non-stop ride from this station. Completing his run of 116 miles between Red Buttes and Three Crossings, he found his relief rider had met an untimely death, causing Cody to ride an extra 76 miles to Rocky Ridge Station.

• Willow Springs Station: Located near Willow Creek and Spring, this site served as a home station for the stage lines and a relay station for Pony Express riders.

• Horse/Greesewood Creek Station: Including the 1861 Overland Mail Company contract, sources list Horse Creek as a station. It was located 14 miles from Willow Springs Station and 12 miles from the Sweetwater Pony Express Station on the east bank of Horse Creek, just north of the old Emigrant Road.

• Sweetwater Station: Sweetwater existed as a Pony Express station until the summer of 1860, when officials abandoned the site in favor of Split Rock. It still appeared on the 1861 Overland Mail Company contract. It was located 12 miles from Horse Creek Station and six miles from Devil’s Gate Station on the north bank of the Sweetwater River. Independence Rock is about one mile west.

• Devil’s Gate Station: Historians generally agree that this was the site of a Pony Express Station. Devil’s Gate was a significant landmark on the Oregon Trail. It was located six miles from Sweetwater Pony Express Station and six miles from Plant’s Station.

• Plant’s/Plante Station: The 1861 Overland Mail Company contract identifies Plant(e)’s station as a Pony Express stop. It was located 12 miles from Sweetwater Pony Express Station, six miles from Devil’s Gate Station, and 12 miles from Split Rock Station, about 400 feet south of the Sweetwater River.

• Split Rock Station: Russell, Majors & Waddell erected a stage station in 1859. The site consisted of a crude log structure with a pole corral located on the Sweetwater River’s south side. Buffalo Bill Cody exchanged horses at Split Rock Station on a record ride from Red Buttes Station to Rocky Ridge Station and back. The site was 12 miles from Plant’s Station and 14 miles from Three Crossings Station.

• Three Crossings Station: Located on the Sweetwater River, it took its name from the trail crossed the stream three times within a quarter of a mile. A home station, it also feature a telegraph station. It was to this station in 1860 that 15-year-old Pony Express carrier Bill Cody rode from Red Buttes on the Platte River, 76 miles away.

• Ice Slough/Ice Springs Station: This site was listed in the 1861 Overland Mail contract. It was well known for nearly year-round ice in a grassy swamp. It was 12 miles from Three Crossings Station and 12 miles from Warm Springs Station, just north of the Old Emigrant Road.

• Warm Springs Station: Located on the Seminoe Cutoff from the Oregon Trail, this station was 12 miles from Ice Springs Station and 12 miles from Rocky Ridge Station/St. Mary’s Station.

• Rocky Ridge/St. Mary’s Stage Station: The 1861 Overland Mail Company contract listed this station site as Rocky Ridge. A home station, it was built in 1859 by Russell, Majors, and Waddell.

  Rocky Ridge was said to have been the scene of a record-setting Pony Express ride in 1860 when Buffalo Bill Cody rode the 76-mile stretch from Red Buttes to Three Crossings.

• Rock Creek Station: The 1861 Overland Mail Company contract included this station, which was situated near the old Lewiston townsite. It was located 12 miles from Rocky Ridge Station Station and 12 miles from Upper Sweetwater Station.

• Upper Sweetwater/South Pass Station: Located on the emigrant trail, this was originally the site of Gilbert’s Trading Post.

  Because the station became a favorite target for Indian attacks, a unit of the 11th Ohio Volunteers was garrisoned at the site in 1862. When the military abandoned the station in 1868, the Indians burned it to the ground.

• Pacific Springs Station: Located approximately two miles west of the Continental Divide. Pacific Springs would serve as a relay station for the stage lines and the Pony Express. It was 12 miles from the Upper Sweetwater Station and 12 miles from Dry Sandy Station.

• Dry Sandy Station: Situated on the west bank of Dry Sandy Creek and just south of the old Emigrant Road. It was 12 miles from Pacific Springs Station and 15 miles from Little Sandy Station.

• Little Sandy Creek Station: This relay station was located near the Great Salt Lake Road junction and on the road to Fort Hall, Idaho. It was located 15 miles from Dry Sandy Station and 13 miles from Big Sandy Station on an elevation west of Little Sandy Creek.

• Big Sandy Station: A relay station for the Pony Express and stagecoach stop for the Overland Mail. It was burned by Indians in 1862. It was located 13 miles from Little Sandy Station and 15 miles from Big Timber Station.

• Big Timber Station: The U.S. mail contract of 1861 lists Big Timber as a station, probably situated on the north bank of Big Sandy Creek. It was 15 miles from Big Sandy Station and 15 miles from Green River Station.

• Green River (Crossing) Station: Green River served as a home station. It is 15 miles from Big Timber Station and 20 miles from Ham’s Fork Station.

• Michael Martin’s Station: Located approximately ten miles southwest of Green River Station. It is known that the site was a stagecoach stop in 1860. The station was located between the Green River Station and Ham’s Fork Station

• Ham’s Fork Station: Historical sources agree on the identity of Ham’s Fork as a station.

  Fur trappers and traders passed the confluence of the Ham’s and Black’s forks of the Green River as early as 1824. By the 1840s, emigrants along the California-Oregon Trail crossed Ham’s Fork near its mouth.

• Church Butte Station: Church Butte was an important landmark across southwestern Wyoming on the Oregon/California/Mormon Trail. Near here stood a relay station for the Pony Express.

• Millersville Station: This area was first utilized by whites as early as 1834. When the site became a stage station, it received its name from A. B. Miller, a partner of William Russell and William Waddell. It was located 20 miles from Ham’s Fork Station and 12 miles from Fort Bridger, near where the old Emigrant Road crossed Smith’s Fork.

• Fort Bridger: Historians debate whether a Pony Express station was located at the fort.

  Fort Bridger was established in 1842 by mountain man James Bridger and Louis Vasquez. It served as a trading post for those traveling westward along the emigrant rails.

• Muddy (Creek) Station: Several sources identify Muddy or Muddy Creek as a home station. It was located 12 miles from Fort Bridger and 11 miles from Quaking Aspen Station on the north side of Muddy Creek.

• Quaking Asp/Aspen/Springs Station: This station was in the 1861 Overland Mail Company contract. it was 11 miles from Muddy Station and 12 miles from Bear River Station. A Quaking Aspen grove and spring are south of the station site.

• Bear River Station: The exact location of this site is currently unknown. Bear River Station was the last Pony Express station in Wyoming. It was about 12 miles from Quaking Aspen Station on the Bear River.

Utah:

• The Needles/Needle Rock(s) Station: Little is known about this station besides its identification as Needle Rock in the 1861 mail contract. It was named for a very prominent rock formation near the Utah-Wyoming border. The site is on Yellow Creek, almost 10 miles south of Evanston and approximately eight miles from Bear River Station, Wyoming.

• Head of Echo Canyon Station/Castle Rock: This station is mentioned in the 1861 mail contract as Castle Rock and/or Frenchies. It was located about eight miles from Needle Rock Station.

  The trail through Echo Canyon was one of the most important of westward expansion. Buffalo, Indians, and explorers first used this natural pathway.

• Halfway Station: Listed as the third Utah station in the 1861 mail contract. It was approximately seven miles from the Head of Echo Canyon Station, about halfway down Echo Canyon.

• Weber Station: As early as 1853, a stone stage and pony station were built here at the mouth of Echo Canyon.

• Brimville Emergency Station: After leaving Weber Station, Pony Express riders crossed Forney’s Bridge over the Weber River and rode through Bachelors Canyon to Dixie Hollow under normal traveling conditions.

• East Canyon Station: Identified in the 1861 mail contract. Today, the East Canyon Reservoir covers the historic site.

• Mountain Dell/Dale Station: The 1861 mail contract referred to this station as Mountain Dale.

• Salt Lake City Station: The last station in Division Three of the Pony Express Division Three, this home station was listed in the 1861 mail contract as Salt Lake House. The Salt Lake House was a home station for both stage lines and Pony Express riders. A granite monument with bronze plaques marks the location today.

The legacy of the Pony Express Division Three lives on, not only in the historical markers and reconstructed stations that dot the landscape, but also in the stories of the courageous riders and dedicated station keepers who played a part in this extraordinary endeavor. Their grit and determination helped to forge a vital link between the East and West, contributing to the development of the American West. The journey along Pony Express Division Three is a journey through history, offering a glimpse into a time when the speed of a horse could shape the destiny of a nation. The Pony Express Division Three route stands as a testament to the human spirit’s ability to overcome obstacles and connect communities across vast distances.