The Oregon Trail
"There is such thing anymore as the Oregon Trail. There never was a single Oregon Trail. After Fort Kearny on the Platte in eastern Nebraska, some wagon trains hugged the north side…
Mile 1834: Route Alternatives
At Mile 1834, you have the option of: Staying on the Pony Express Trail to Dry Creek Station, through Simpson Park Mountains, to Simpson Park Station. This route takes Streep’s Cutoff,…
Mile 1544: Route Alternate
Just before Mile 1544, Pleasant Valley Road splits off the XP Route (Hwy 2/White Pine County Road 32) to the south. Shortly after, it crosses a jeep trail (marked on…
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 1304: East Canyon/Dixie Hollow/Dixie Creek/Bauchmanns/ Snyder’s Mill Station
"Ten and one-half miles from Weber via Bachelors Canyon [blocked by private land] or about 13 and one-half miles from Weber via Henefer. "East Canyon Station, currently inundated by the…
Mile 1285: Weber/Echo/Bromleys/Hanging Rock Station
"James E. Bromley, division superintendent for the run from Pacific Springs Wyoming to Salt Lake City, settled at the mouth of Echo Canyon in 1854. He did not obtain a…
Short Cut to Cold Springs Station
"After a midday halt, rendered compulsory by the old white mare, we resumed our way along the valley southward, over a mixture of pitch-hole and boulder, which forbids me to forget that day's…
Simpson’s Route
"The central route is called Egan's by the Mormons, Simpson's by the Gentiles. Mr. or Major Howard Egan is a Saint and well-known guide, an indefatigable mountaineer, who for some time drove stock…
Move from St. Joseph to Atchison
"Beginning in September, 1861, the Post Office Department ordered the dispatch of the overland mail from Atchison rather than St. Joseph, since the Kansas town was 14 miles farther west on an…
First Through Coaches on the Central Route
"The first through daily coaches on the Central route left St. Joseph and Placerville simultaneously on July 1, 1861, and both arrived at their destination on July 18, in a few hours over…
Mile 238: The Narrows
"The regular correspondent of the St. Louis Missouri Democrat went over the line in June, 1861, and wrote from Denver to his paper (issue of July 9): 'Taking into consideration the distance…
Lodgepole Creek
"Our Camp at Pole Creek the night' of November 4, 1864, was very bleak and dreary. Pole Creek was a vast trough in the plateau. It had a bed wide enough for…
Mile 546: Devil’s Dive
" Elston and a detachment were sent down ahead of the train to where it would pass a very bad piece of road, a few miles east of Julesburg ; there was…
Wood for Julesburg
"We were told that we would have to stay at Julesburg over the winter, and that some arrangement would have to be made for winter quarters. The first thing we had to do…