The Pony Express Takes Over Chorpenning’s Route
Happily, as it turns out, for the Pony Express, the Central Overland Trail was also developed as a stagecoach and mail-by-mule route by a hardworking competitor, George W. Chorpenning. Chorpenning…
mIle 917: Fort Casper
Site of Fort Caspar/Platte Bridge Station, Fort Caspar Museum, 1847 Mormon Ferry, and Guinard Bridge. Fort Casper was a focus of 19th century emigration, commercial, and military activity. In 1847, Brigham…
Mile 1655: Rock Springs Pass
"Now comes the 2,000 foot climb up and over Rock Springs Pass, the highest point along the entire Pony Express Trail, higher even than South Pass in the Rockies, or…
Mile 1677: Egan Canyon
"Special recognition is given to this canyon simply because it is given so much notice by the literature. Egan Canyon was named for Howard Egan who pioneered Chorpenning's mail service through there in…
Mile 1480: Route Alternate
At Mile 1480 (west side of Fish Springs, UT), the XP Bikepacking continues north on the Pony Express-Overland Stage Trail to go around the north end of the Fish Springs…
Mile 1795: Route Alternate
At the Pony Express Monument marked on the XP Route map just past Mile 1794, there are two possible routes. The first turns southwest and heads more or less straight…
Mile 1741: Diamond Springs Station
The station site and the Pony Express Monument are in separate locations. The site is at https://goo.gl/maps/6ecT5eFvKsvLdtXM9. In satellite view, it appears there is a cutoff from the XP Trail…
Mile 1557: Route Alternate
According to one source (William Hill, p. 214), the road over Rock Springs Pass was a summer shortcut. Winters, the route ran around the south of the Antelope Mountains. According…
Mile 1491: Boyd/Butte/Desert Station
"Fourteen miles from Fish Springs Station, via a road around the north end of the Fish Springs Range and nine miles over the pass to the west of the station. Although…
Mile 1478: Fish Springs/Smith Springs/Fresh Springs Station
"J.H. Simpson placed two mail stations in this area: the one at Fish Springs first used by Chorpenning and another about three and one-quarter miles north at Warm Springs. The…
Mile 1835: Dry Creek
"Twenty miles farther led to the west end of the Sheawit Valley, where we found the station on a grassy bench at the foot of low rolling hills. It was a mere…
Pony Express Map
"W. R. Hoonell of Kansas City constructed probably the best 'Map of the Pony Express Route,' and also wrote a short account which is published in The Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. V,…
Choice of St. Joseph Terminal
"The next issue of the St. Joseph Weekly West announced the location of the eastern terminal at that place, rather than Leavenworth, a decision which appears to have been forced upon Russell because…
Mile 580: Lodgepole Depot Museum
"The famous Pony Express mail delivery route passed through Lodgepole Creek Valley in 1860 and 1861. Two Pony Express stations were nearby. The Pole Creek No. 2 Pony Express Station…
Pony Express Using Chorpenning’s Stations
"Russell, Majors and Waddell's pony express company became the immediate beneficiary of Chorpenning's demise. On the same day that Chorpenning' s service was terminated, William Russell signed a contract with the post office…