Historical Marker · No. 699
Mormon Tavern-Overland Pony Express Route in California
El Dorado Hills, El Dorado County · California
Erected by The California State Park Commission in cooperation with the James W. Marshall Chapter No.49 E Clampus Vitus, Marguerte Parlor No.12 Native Daughters of the Golden West and the Central Overland Pony Express Trail Organization April 2, 1950, 1950
The tavern was eleven years old before the Pony Express existed. It stood on the old Clarksville-White Rock Emigrant Road, cut in 1849 for wagons, and Franklin Winchell enlarged it into a proper stage stop in 1851. The Express simply used what the emigrants and the stage lines had already built, which is true of nearly every station on this route. Sam Hamilton changed horses here on April 4, 1860, on the first eastbound run, and the tavern outlasted the service that made it famous.
What the plaque says
Mormon Tavern At this site on the old Clarksville-White Rock Emigrant Road was Mormon Tavern, constructed in 1849, and enlarged and operated by Franklin Winchell in 1851. A popular stop for teams and stages, it became a remount station of the Central Overland Pony Express. Here on April 4, 1860, pony rider William (Sam) Hamilton changed horses on the first trip eastward of the Pony Express. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 699 Plaque placed by the California State Park Commission in cooperation with the James W. Marshall Chapter No. 49 E Clampus Vitus, Marguerite Parlor No. 12, Native Daughters of the Golden West, and the Central Overland Pony Express Trail Association, April 2, 1960.
Where it stands
38.65610, -121.05975 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park — 14 miThe tailrace at Coloma where a carpenter found gold in January 1848 and the world came running.
- Sacramento — 25 miThe Gold Rush river port that became the state capital, and jacked itself ten feet into the air to stop drowning.