The Pony Express

The foot of this plate dates it. The National Pony Express Centennial Association was founded at the Western Governors' Conference in November 1957 to mark the express's hundredth year, and from July 19 to 28, 1960, its re-ride sent some five hundred riders both ways between Sacramento and St. Joseph along the old route. Through the 1960s it set markers in all eight states the express crossed. This plate names Horace A. Sorensen as president; the association's plate at Woodfords, California, names Waddell F. Smith, a grandson of the express's co-founder William Waddell.

What the plaque says

The Pony Express Here was bustling Platte Bridge Station (later renamed Fort Caspar) with a relay station for the Pony Express. The bridge was a catalyst drawing together wilderness wayfarers -- frontiersmen and immigrants -- to learn late news of trail events and civilized regions. Erected by the State of Wyoming National Pony Express Centennial Association Horace A. Sorensen - President Richard I. Frost - Director

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Caspar Museum — steps away
  The crossing before the fort: the Mormon ferry of 1847 and Guinard's toll bridge of 1859, rebuilt beside the 1936 log station.

More markers nearby

• Oregon Trail — steps away
• Oregon Trail Memorial — steps away
• The "Mormon" Ferry — 0.6 mi
• Oregon Trail — 0.7 mi