Old Julesburg

The bronze's "upper crossing" is the Upper California Crossing, the ford where Oregon and California emigrants left the South Platte to strike north toward the North Platte. After 1859 the road to the Colorado gold camps kept on up the south bank, so Beni's post stood at a fork in the westward traffic, which is what the plaque means by a junction of trails. The site lies in farm country 1,235 feet north of this marker. In 2020 archaeologists reported their first work at the station site and at nearby Camp Rankin, recorded as sites 5SW26 and 5SW24.

What the plaque says

This memorial is the property of the State of Colorado Due north 1235 feet is the original site of Old Julesburg named for Jules Beni, whose trading post was established at the "Upper Crossing" of the Platte prior to 1860. Junction of Oregon and Overland trails. Pony Express station, 1860-61. Overland Stage station, 1859-65. Burned in Indian raid, Feb. 2, 1865. Erected by the State Historical Society of Colorado from the Mrs. J. N. Hall Foundation and by citizens of Sedgwick County, Colorado 1931

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Julesburg — 6.1 mi
  The town that moved four times: a trading post, a stage stop burned in 1865, the wickedest end-of-track town on the Union Pacific, and finally Denver Junction renamed.

More markers nearby

• Fort Sedgwick — 1.9 mi