Cheyenne River Crossing, 1876-1877 Cheyenne to Deadwood Stage Trail

The station that stood near this crossing outlived the stagecoaches as a ranch house. J. W. Dear built Cheyenne River Station early in 1876 on Pollock's Cutoff, and in 1879, the panel says, it became headquarters for the Anglo American Cattle Company's TOT Ranch, among the first ranches in the county to settle in one place. By then the coaches had already moved to a shorter road. The railroad that made Edgemont came in 1890, and the station's likely site lies in the wye of its tracks.

What the plaque says

Cheyenne River Crossing 1876-1877 Cheyenne to Deadwood Stage Trail The Cheyenne to Deadwood Stage Line changed routes several times during its history. In 1876 and 1877, the Cheyenne to Deadwood stagecoaches came through what would become present-day Edgemont over what was known as Pollock's Cutoff Route. The stages crossed the Cheyenne River just west of the current "Old Highway 18" railroad bridge. A stage station, called the Cheyenne River Station, was built nearby in early 1876 by J.W. Dear. The location of the station is believed to have been just east of the current mainline tracks, in the wye of the railroad lines. The Cheyenne River Stage Station in 1879 became the headquarters building for the Anglo American Cattle Company's TOT Ranch, which was one of the first ranches to establish permanent headquarters in Fall River County. The railroad was built through Edgemont in 1890.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• The Mammoth Site — 19 mi
  A housing lot in Hot Springs where a bulldozer turned up a tusk in 1974 and the developer gave up the subdivision for sixty-one mammoths.
• Wind Cave National Park — 24 mi
  A cave that breathes through a hole the size of a dinner plate, lined with nearly all the boxwork known on Earth, under a prairie restocked with bison shipped from New York.

More markers nearby

• Siding 7 — steps away
• Camp Collier — 3.1 mi
• Wood Stage Station — 13 mi
• John Stevenson Robertson: Pioneer Horticulturalist — 15 mi