Horseshoe Creek Station

The company that built this station lasted barely a season. In 1856 Hiram Kimball, acting for Brigham Young, won the four-year federal mail contract between Independence and Salt Lake City for $23,000, and the Brigham Young Express and Carrying Company began carrying mail on February 8, 1857. Horseshoe Creek was surveyed as one of its 640-acre station plots. On June 10 the government cancelled the contract without explanation; the company learned of it on July 1, when the Independence postmaster refused to hand over the mail.

What the plaque says

Horseshoe Creek Station During the 1850's and 1860's, wagon freighters fed and watered mules and oxen, exchanged tired stagecoach horses for fresh ones, and conducted other tasks at the historic Horseshoe Creek Station near here. A nearly endless stream of emigrants from the eastern United States and from around the world stopped here. Leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints realized the importance of a dependable mail and passenger service between the east and the Salt Lake Valley. The Church-operated Brigham Young Express and Carrying Company (BYX) constructed the Horseshoe Creek Station complex in 1856, beginning a new community. Tensions between the U.S. government and the Church reached a point that in 1857 a U.S. Military expedition was mounted to replace Utah Territorial Governor Brigham Young. While accounts of the event vary, the Horseshoe Creek Station site fell victim to the violence and was set ablaze. In August, 1857 BYX disbanded its stations between Fort Laramie and Salt Lake City. The station complex was later rebuilt and other operators, including the short-lived Pony Express, used the station for several years. In December 1866 John "Portugee" Phillips stopped at the Horseshoe Creek Station during his legendary 235-mile ride through a blizzard from Fort Phil Kearny to Fort Laramie to telegraph the military that troops were surrounded by hostile Sioux and Cheyenne warriors and needed assistance.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Oregon Trail Ruts State Historic Site — 21 mi
  The clearest wagon ruts on the trail, worn by iron tires and cut deeper by travelers who hacked at the ledge to get their wagons over.
• Register Cliff State Historic Site — 22 mi
  The first camp out of Fort Laramie, where the oldest date on the rock reads 1829 and three emigrants never left.

More markers nearby

• Horseshoe Creek Pony Express Station — steps away
• Oregon Trail — 15 mi
• Laramie Peak — 16 mi
• The Oregon Trail — 19 mi