By Dennis Cassinelli
In Part 2 of my series on Eastern Nevada Pony Express Stations, I described Schell Creek Station (4), Egan’s Canyon Station (5), and Bates’/ Butte Station (6). The numbers in parenthesis indicate the number of stations from the Nevada/Utah State line. There will be one Pony Express article each month.
Mountain Springs Station (7)
The Mountain Springs Station is mentioned in the 1861 mail contract. and most sources generally agree on the identity of Mountain Springs as a station site.
This station was probably built in July, 1861. It served the Pony Express during its last few months of the year and the Overland Mail company line until 1869. There are no original buildings still standing on the site.
Ruby Valley Station (8)
Most sources acknowledge there was a Pony Express Station at Ruby Valley. The station began in 1859 as a part of George Chorpenning’s mail route and later served the Pony Express and Overland Mail Company line. William “Uncle Billy” Rogers and Frederick William Hurst managed station operations at Ruby Valley. Rogers served as station keeper when Richard Burton visited the site on October 7, 1860.
When Burton visited the station, it was considered a half-way point between Salt Lake City and the Carson Valley.
The area’s rich soil provided excellent opportunities to raise food and hay for the other stations along the route. A band of Shoshone and the army also established camps near the station at various times. Camp Floyd’s Company B of the 4th Artillery Regiment arrived at Ruby Valley in May 1860 to protect the mail route during the Pyramid Lake Wars and remained there until October.
Thereafter, the station’s name appeared on the 1861 mail contract list. As of 1997, a brass marker, provided by the Northeastern Nevada Historical Society, identified the station site. Jacob’s Well Station (9)
Jacob’s Well is noted by many sources as a Pony Express Station. The station did not exist when Richard Burton passed through the area on October 8, 1860, but it probably went up a short time later, or as part of the Overland Mail Company contract. General Frederick Jacobs and a crew of men dug a well and erected a small stone structure that served as a stop for both Pony Express riders and the Overland Mail Company line. Very little, if any, evidence of the station remains at the site today.
Diamond Springs Station (10)
Sources generally agree on the identity of Diamond Springs Station as a Pony Express station. Richard Burton visited the station on October 9, 1860, and noted its Mormon stationkeepers and the site as a water source. According to Burton, the station was named after the “warm, but sweet and beautifully clear water bubbling up from the earth.”
Another source mentions that Diamond Springs received its name from Jack Diamond, a miner and prospector. Edna Patterson lists the stationkeeper as William Cox during the Pony Express era. Cox remained at Diamond Springs when the Overland Telegraph arrived and served as a telegraph operator and maintenance man for stations between Cherry Creek and Roberts Creek, Nevada.
This article is by Dayton Author and Historian, Dennis Cassinelli. You can order his books at a discount on his blog at denniscassinelli.com. Just click on “order books”