Mile 1406: Faust Station
"'We built a log cabin, the roof was dirt, the floor was dirt. A wagon cover made a carpet. The window was glazed with a flour sack. The door was…
Mile 764: Center Station and Register Cliff
"A PonyExpress monument along the North Platte River near Guernsey, Wyoming and near the famous RegisterCliff where passing emigrants carved their names in the soft claystone rock. . . This…
Pony Express Geocache Challenge
The Pony Express Geocache Challenge requires that you get one Geocache in each of the eight states of the route, plus two additional, for a total of ten. Each must…
Death of a Gunfighter
Dan Rottenberg, Death of a Gunfighter: The Quest for Jack Slade, the West's Most Elusive Legend (Westholme 2008) This book represents the author's quest to sort the fact from the…
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April 27, 2020
Pony Service During the Paiute War
"By the fall of 1860 more than half the Pony Express posts between Carson City and Utah Lake had been destroyed by Paiute ambushes set in every mountain pass along…
Five-Hundred Dollars Per Round Trip
"Whether from patriotism or in hope that it would lead to the coveted mail subsidy, William Russell stepped forward with an astounding offer: By using swift saddle horses in short…
Mormon Trail through the Wasach
"The Mormons were the first after the Donner party to take the [Hastings] cutoff route from Fort Bridger, but their experiences were quite different. Beyond the Weber River Canyon they…
First Wagons Across the Sierra Nevada
"The first wagons were probably taken across the Sierra Nevada by the Stevens party of 1843. This expedition is of great importance to trail history, for it definitely pioneered and…
Fremont’s First Expedition
"As a stunt to demonstrate the absolute safety of the Oregon Trail, Benton conceived the idea of sending his twelve-year-old son as far as the Continental Divide, with Frémont to…
Oregon Trail in 1839
"Each spring [after 1836] an increasing number of small emigrant wagon trains plodded westward from Independence, over the route which had become known as the Oregon Trail. As each train…
Wagon Road to California
"[S]ome [rumors] that there was a movement afoot [in California] for outright secession and forming a separate nation.There was no possibility of breaking the transcontinental railway deadlock, but in December,…
Mile 1328-1396: Salt Lake City to Callao, Utah
"A little video I made of the first two days on the Pony Express trail from Salt Lake City to Callao, Utah. Unfortunately, due to time constraints that were too tightened…
Mile 915: Casper, WY
"Casper is definitely on my list for an off day or two for anyone looking for suggestions. Good food, lots of bike shops, campground with cabins right in the middle…
Mile 1059: Rock Creek Hollow
"Rock Creek Hollow. A stop along the trail that holds significance for the Mormon faith. Mormons made the trek to Salt Lake City with only hand pushed carts. They could…
Mile 1045: Rocky Ridge
"Rocky Ridge. Yes, the trail goes up this ridge. Climbing over 700 feet in less than 2 miles, this ridge caused a lot of problems for pioneer hand carts and…