By Greg Rasanen
This stage station is another poorly marked historic site. It dates back to 1862, when “Stagecoach King” Ben Holladay took over the transcontinental stagecoach business and United States mail contract. Ben decided to use the more southern route through Wyoming and Colorado, rather than the Oregon Trail route, which followed the North Platte River out of Nebraska toward Casper and then over South Pass and on to Fort Bridger, where the two trails reconnected.
What remains of the Stagecoach stop, and my modern coach parked where the Overland Trail was located.
During the Civil War, Lincoln believed it was imperative to maintain communications with the west coast in order to keep them in the Union. The Pony Express and these Stagecoach lines were key to that effort. However they quickly fell out of favor when the Railroad was completed in 1869, but pioneers continued to use the Overland Trail and Stage stations like this into the early 1900’s. Much of the Overland Trail route was also chosen by the railroad and later the Lincoln Highway as the preferred route west across Wyoming.
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