Jailhouse Rock

Tuesday May 10th  I had been increasingly concerned about the fit of Mo's pack saddle, as it put too much pressure forward onto his shoulders where there were already inherited bald pressure patches. My pack saddle is adjustable, and thinking about it overnight I deduced that if I narrowed it at the front, it might level the balance of the saddle on his back. The problem was that I did not have a spanner.  Leaving early and not wanting to disturb Luke, I waited until I had ridden for a couple of hours before going to the next house where the children were off to school.  Jennifer Ekhart listened sympathetically to my request and fetched her husband who produced said item.  After a bit of tinkering the balance was much improved, and I also re-stuffed the pockets in his Mattes saddle pad to ensure the pressure was right off his shoulders.  In the meantime Jennifer brought me out a cup of coffee and biscuits.  And donated the spanner!

About ten miles further on along a side road we came to the site of Mud Springs Pony Express Station in a lovely location by a small lily covered pond where the horses were able to quench their thirst...

The Pony Express marker is in the grove of trees behind, which you can see as the camera pans round.

 

Mud Springs was the first home station travelling west from Julesburg and also served as a stage stop. In 1865 it was the scene of an inconclusive battle between the US army and a large band of Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians.

According to Burton, accommodation was primitive and flea ridden, consisting of 'an open shed, with a sort of dormitory by the side' and he ended up sleeping under a wagon.

 

But I found it a most pleasant and peaceful spot with plenty of grass and clean water for the horses, and I was tempted to stay on and camp there overnight. But we had only covered around twelve miles and I was aware of my tight schedule, so after a couple of hours resting in the shade of the trees, I decided to push on.
After losing a tussle with my second cattle gate (more of which later) I had to retrace my steps back to the main 385 highway, but found a corral, feed and hay for the horses with local horse owners Tammy and Teresa....

Wednesday May 10th

The next Pony Express station after Mud Springs was Courthouse Rock, a major guiding landmark for pioneers and clearly visible across the floodplain of the North Platte as we descended the bluff to Mud Springs the day before.
Courthouse Rock is the massive pyramidal sandstone outcrop behind the trees on the left in the photo below. It was originally likened to a castle or court-house, but according to Burton was already degraded from its original shape by the time he saw it.

To the right is the smaller feature known as Jail or Jailhouse Rock.  Rather than dancing to it, we walked very soberly into the field below.    I had been given permission to graze the horses there at midday by Todd and Bobby of local farming family the Faesslers.   Pumpkinseed Creek Pony Express station was probably somewhere round here, as it was reported to be about six miles south of Bridgeport and we had just crossed Pumpkin Creek.   The small log cabin which apparently served as a Pony Express station there is now at Harold Warp's Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska...

From here the Pony Express Trail cut across country towards Chimney Rock through private land, and we detoured north through Bridgeport, where I found an excellent place to camp in a grassy paddock belonging to delightful elderly couple Bernard and Betty Stanley..

I was thrilled when Bernard pointed out that we could just see Chimney Rock in the distance from their house.  And Betty insisted that I come in for a delicious pea and ham soup supper and breakfast the next morning!

Up a Creek without a Paddle..

.... but with two horses instead.   From the South Platte the Pony Express trail followed up the course of Lodgepole Creek to Sydney (of the US rail yard rather than Ozzie sun, sea and surf variety) and I was riding along Route 30 which runs parallel to the creek.

Sunday May 8th  and Mother's Day in North America.  I stopped up the road at John and Mary Aalberg's house in Chappell to beg some water to clean Mo's pastern. Daughter Diane was visiting and amazingly had just done an Equitape bandaging course and was keen to try out her new skills!  So here is Mo with his snazzy new bandage...

...and Mary brought out breakfast for me!    Mary misses the Colorado mountains of her original home, so has constructed a mini mountain with quartz rocks and ponderosa pine where she can sit and imagine herself back among the peaks ......

We were now passing into what is usually dryer territory, and I started to see these low cacti providing ground cover in dry places along the verge....

However the unusually high amount of rainfall this year has meant that there has been plenty of grass en route.

Besides Nine Mile station there were two Pole Creek stations on this section of the trail, the first one in the vicinity of Lodgepole. There was no evidence of the former pony express station when I stopped here at midday, but a Mother's Day notice and bearded half-naked nymphet (pole dancer?)outside a bar provided an interesting juxtaposition....

 

On arrival in Sunol I got talking with these colourful characters..

Gulf veteran Dean Soucie on the left cracked open a couple of beers and considered the meaning of life with me in his workshop home behind, and Randy Booth on the right let me camp on his smallholding which seemed to contain more clapped out cars than cattle.   I found a sheltered spot to pitch my tent though thankfully the predicted storm did not materialise.....

A couple of hours riding on Monday May 9th brought me to the location of the second Pole Creek station ...

...which was sited on the north bank of Lodgepole Creek, or to the left/south of the road in the photo.  The trail ran south of the creek to this point but then crossed to the north.  Burton gives a lurid description of the squalid 'hovel' which served as the station.  It was built of logs and sod up against the hillside, and incongruously papered with pages from journals such as Harpers magazine and the Illustrated New York News.  The fare consisted of antelope meat of dubious quality.

Happily the shop in Sydney where I stopped for a midday coffee stocked tuna sandwiches rather than rancid antelope, and I also found there was a convenient feed mill opposite.  Stacy who worked in the store there very kindly donated some sweet feed for the horses...

 ... and of course they attracted the usual small fan club, in this case Crystal with dad Nick.

Sydney did not exist at the time of the Pony Express, and developed around the military base of Fort Sydney which was established in 1867 to protect the transcontinental railroad from Indian attack.
It was the first sizeable town we had been through since Marysville, but Lady and Mo negotiated the narrow pedestrian tunnel through this underpass with aplomb..

Riding north on the actual line of the Pony Express trail at a location where it is thought that there

was a once a pony express station, about three miles south of Gurley on Rd 111. 

 It does not appear on official records but may have been called Midway? There must have been a way station somewhere on the twenty-five miles between Pole Creek and Mud Springs, and evidence has been found here of an old structure.   There is now an extensive military weapons storage facility to the west on the left hand side of the road.

 

Arriving in Gurley, I found a quiet grassy place to tether the horses by the house of Luke and Marsha (sorry I have forgotten the rather long German surname!) and their daughter Kindell, who was very excited to meet Lady and Mo.  Marsha was unfortunately not at all well after an operation, but Luke not only fed me but offered the use of shower and washing machine, and we set the world to rights with a beer while waiting for my clothes to dry.  As a former IT expert for the military he had travelled widely.  And I slept in their trailer which enabled me to make an early start the following morning.  No photos as my camera had run out of battery.

Skipping through Colorado

Friday May 6th

Gerry and his young quarter horse off to a reining competition in the morning...

 

 Mo had unusually been dragging behind a little the previous day, and in trotting the horses to beat the dark the previous evening, I noticed he was slightly lame behind.  On examining him more closely the next morning I realised he had a crusty injury at the back of his pastern, probably a rope burn from when he got caught in his tethering rope a couple of days previously.  I hosed it thoroughly, applied Vetrazin, and he seemed much better when we set out for Julesburg where I hoped to get hold of bandages, though he was dragging a little again by the end of the long day.
Julesburg is in Colorado, and I contacted Linda Dolezal, the President of the Colorado division of the NPEA for help. She arranged an excellent place for the horses at the luxurious ranch of David Garniss just inside Colorado south of the Platte at Julesburg, and met me there armed with the required medical supplies. David took over the task of applying some yellow paste he swore by and bandaging Mo's pastern before the horses were turned out in a white railed paddock for the night.
Then home with Linda for a fabulous supper cooked by husband Craig, shower and bed. All in all a great evening after a rather demoralising day.  Linda and Craig at home....

Saturday May 7th  Linda drove me back to Julesburg, with a stop to admire the imposing Pony Express statue at the visitors' centre en route.

 Taking a photo of Gerry taking a photo of us taking off...

Happily Mo walked off sound and back to his usual cheerful self, and Gerry donated the pot of magic yellow paste. I was also applying it to Lady's cut which was healing nicely.

Monuments at the site of Old Julesburg....

 Julesburg was originally established near this position on the south bank of the South Platte river, but it subsequently moved position several times, ending up in 1881 at its present site further downstream and to the north of the South Platte.

 Julesburg got its name from the infamous French Canadian Jules Reni, who built a trading post at a river crossing point here in 1859.   A notably dodgy character suspected of thievery, he was unwisely employed by Russell, Waddell and Majors as a station keeper for the stage line and pony express, and became embroiled in a famous and fatal feud. Evidently it was not long before the company became unhappy with his less than admirable running of the station and sent Jack Slade, their tough superintendent for the Fort Kearny to Fort Laramie division, to sort him out.  Reni skeddadled, but crept back later to ambush Slade, leaving him for dead riddled with buckshot.  Unfortunately for Jules' future health Slade survived and was naturally a little peeved. A month later he managed to capture Reni, and according to accounts tied him up and used him for a macabre form of target practice in which he named the part before shooting it.  The grand finale was apparently to cut the ears from the dead body.  Those were the days.

 Crossing the South Platte not too far upstream from where the stage and pony express riders would have crossed....

The South Platte was wide and shallow here with a central island, though crossing was not without the ever present danger of quicksand.  One pony express rider was nearly drowned at this crossing when his pony lost its footing and was swept downstream by flood waters. The rider managed to struggle ashore with the mochila, and continued his ride on a new horse.

From here we were headed towards the North Platte, and a few miles north of Ovid we crossed back into Nebraska after a whistle stop journey through Colorado.   Lady and Mo by a marker for Hughes Ranch, or Nine Mile Station,..

 ..according to the information on the marker this station was not one of the original stage and pony express stations, and only came into use for the last few months of the pony express. It was located a couple of miles away to the other side of the interstate which can be seen in the background.
It was also at the entrance to my destination for the day, the Hammeyer Ranch.  Seriously bad weather had been forecast, so Linda made a concerted effort to find shelter for myself and the horses for the night. The Hamemeyers (sorry I am not sure of the spelling) were all away at a rodeo, with the exception of Newt who was holding the fort.  But they were happy for me to hole up at their house which is why when the horrendous thunderstorm arrived (we even lost electricity for a while!) we were all safe and dry, the horses in the barn below..

Rest in Roscoe

Monday May 2nd and another bright cold day perfect for riding as we set out towards O'Fallon's Bluff.  Midday rest by an abandoned homestead. 

 Sad to see that the plot is being cleared and will no doubt be ploughed up to enable pivot farming by some large concern, something which is happening throughout the Mid West.  The Homesteading Acts of the 1860s enabled many landless immigrants to stake a claim to a plot of land and start a new life.  Land was divided into sections of a mile square, initial homestead lots usually comprising a quarter section of 160 acres or later a half section of 320 acres. To apply for a homestead, the applicant had to be an American citizen, head of household and at least 21 years old. Having staked a claim they had to build a house and live and farm on the homestead for at least five years.  But in more recent years people have been moving out of rural areas, and old family homesteads bought up to practise large scale commercial farming with its attendant problems.  One downside has been the virtual elimination of landscape features of historical interest.

O'Fallon's bluff is a section of a long line of bluffs dropping steeply down to the south bank of the River Platte.  This forced the emigrant and pony express trails to take a diversion climbing over the sandy hills to the south...

 This view is along West Antelope road where it gradually rises up the hill, and the edge of the bluffs can just be seen on the skyline to the right.   A Pony Express station was established on the far side of the bluff, called Dansey's after the proprietor, though it was sometimes referred to as O'Fallon's.
An intriguing and somewhat contradictory sign...

For a region which is so hospitable to passing strangers such as myself, North America seems to contain an inordinate amount of No Trespassing signs.  But at least it provides a widespread and  ingenious use for old tyres...

On Google Earth I had earmarked a possible camp site with grass and a pond not too far from Dansey's, but when I got there I found it was draped in the usual No Trespassing signs.  Added to this there was no-one around at the next few places to ask permission from, always a problem when trying to find an overnight stop.  So I was relieved a couple of miles further on to find a house with paddocks containing evidence of previous equine residents and an enthusiastic lady who welcomed me in with open arms.  My friendly hosts Michelle Schuler and John Rogers..

...who provided all the comforts of home, plus some interesting conversation.

Tuesday May 3rd   The rolling road to Roscoe....

 ..where I had arranged to have a day off with NPEA member Mary Cone. 

Rather incongruous sign for a horseback traveller on a dirt road...

 ...but actually aimed at traffic on Interstate 80 on the other side.  This was in the area where Alkali Lake Pony Express station was located, the exact site remaining unidentified.
As I neared Roscoe, a figure appeared by the side of the road - it was Mary, who had come to guide me to her house a couple of miles off the trail.   We crossed north over the interstate, the South Platte and the railway, and climbed up to her lovely home at the top of a hill with panoramic views to the south.  In the photo below the line of trees marks the course of the South Platte river, and the Pony Express trail runs parallel with it along the hills just to the far side..

It was a perfect place for Lady and Mo to relax and chill out for a day, not to mention me!  Mary first helped me to thoroughly clean out and medicate a nasty wound Lady had mysteriously acquired on her thigh at Tyler's. She was not lame, and I had been treating it, but had not been able to give it a really good hose out.
A much needed rest, and a chance to do some necessary shopping, besides which Mary and I splurged on a couple of meals out.   Obligatory local option of buffalo burger with Dorothy Lynch sauce (a Nebraska speciality) both times for me!
We also visited the Tri-Trails Park south of the South Platte at Ogallala, which I would be passing the following day.  The three trails in question are the Oregon Trail, the Pony Express trail and also the Texas Trail along which cattle were driven north from Texas to the Union Pacific rail shipping point at Ogallala.   Mary by the Pony Express statue in the park - she was responsible for organising its installation.

Mary running the water hydrant that is used by horses on the Pony Express re-ride, to check the water will be clean when I pass through...

...as you can see, it is pretty brown, and we had to wait a while for it to clear! But at least I knew it would be ready for the morrow, Thursday May 5th.

Is that a horse I see before me?...

Lady arrives at the Park the next morning, and yes she and Mo drank some water.  This was also the approximate site of Gill's Pony Express way station,

 

Rest stop on a grassy verge.....

 Sods law just as I was packing up to go, a woman  in a passing car invited me to call in at her stables which were only about hundred yards away just over the brow of the hill!   Steve and Jacky Bishop run Jump Rope Stables  and I ended up stopping for a drink and a chat, the result of which was that I found myself still looking for somewhere to stay as dusk fell. Steve and Jacky had suggested Gerry Sherman who farmed a couple of miles beyond the site of Diamond Springs Pony Express station, and he sorted me out with a field down the road and helped me put my tent up in the pitch dark! 

 

A Bafflement of Stations

Saturday April 30th The freezing rain turned to sleet and snow as we left Brady. and the snow had started to settle by the time we reached this marker for Machette's Pony Express station....

 ..which unfortunately has been vandalised.  The immense confusion surrounding the stations in this section of the trail includes this one, and knowledge of its existence and site seems to rely largely on local tradition.   There are question marks over the spacing and exact location of Gilman's and Machette's and together with a suggestion that they are one and the same, it makes this site less credible.  But the original plaque on the marker stated that 'The log blacksmith shop nearby is the original building used for shoeing horses' and this building is now at the Lincoln County Historical Museum in North Platte..   It has also been claimed that there was a larger two story building here which is the same one moved to Gothenburg city park by the American Legion in 1931.  Rebuilt as a one story building it is now a tourist attraction.  But then there have been suggestions that it might be part of Cottonwood Springs Pony Express station, which was the next station to the west and certainly existed as a home station and stage stop.  

 According to some sources and a small monument at the side of the road which I missed, the site of Cottonwood Springs station was in this field not far from the mouth of Cottonwood Canyon..

The view is looking south towards the bluffs from East Fort McPherson Rd, a quiet byway which I discovered was actually a part of the old Lincoln Highway!  Cottonwood Springs station was also called McDonald's Ranch, after proprietor Charles McDonald who built a cedar road ranch at the site. In 1860 Burton described Cottonwood Springs as a 'foul tenement' but by 1864/1864 (after the cessation of the Pony Express service) it comprised a substantial two storey building, with a large corral, blacksmith shop and stage and telegraph station. 

 

Less than a mile further on we came to the site of Fort McPherson.  It was not in existence at the time of the Pony Express, and was established shortly afterwards in 1863 as a response to increasing restiveness among the American Indians. It provided a secure point between Fort Kearny and Fort Laramie further up the Platte and was completed in time for the Indian raids of 1864.  In 1866 the name was changed from Fort Cottonwood to Fort McPherson after the Civil War general, but the fort was abandoned in 1880.  The statue below was near the position of the flag post on the parade ground...

 

By this time I was thoroughly cold and miserable in spite of my padded jacket and waterproofs. My second pair of gloves were soaking and my hands like blocks of ice.  At least I was not facing the arctic conditions experienced by pony express riders William Campbell and Richard Cleve who were caught in blizzards between Fort Kearny and Cottonwood Springs and could not even see the trail for snow - Campbell found his way by the tops of tall weeds on either side.  And they did not have the help of kindly local farmer Jo Burge who pressed a dry pair of gloves on a pitiful pensioner!

 

Noticing a large black horse by a ranch at midday, I plodded in to ask if I could shelter and rest up for a while.  Tyler Hughes showed Lady and Mo into a large barn, invited me in for a cup of coffee, and then offered a place to stay overnight.   I had been intending to try and reach North Platte, but compared with the prospect of trudging through the freezing sleet with nowhere to stay, the promise of a warm dry refuge was too tempting!   So instead of shivering outside in bitter weather I found myself dozing in front of the telly with a beer.  Tyler's lovely girlfriend Stacy laid on a huge meal and a constant stream of children from their previous marriages provided entertainment.    

Tyler used to be a boxer, and in fact travelled to the UK to fight Welshman Joe Calzaghe - though with a name like Hughes, Tyler must also be of Welsh descent.

 

The next morning Sunday May 1st and I was even more perplexed to come across a Pony Express marker for Cottonwood Springs about a mile further west, in addition stating it lay about two miles to the north of this point ...

Another source states that it was also called Box Elder station, which yet another source contends was sited at the mouth of Box Elder Canyon about a mile even further to the west.  Just as well the pony express riders were not presented with this bewildering array of information or they would still be galloping.  What is certain is that Cottonwood Springs did exist and was located somewhere in the vicinity of Cottonwood Canyon!

 

A short grazing break, and we received a surprise flying visit... 

...from Lyle Gronewald, President of the Nebraska division of the NPEA, together with his wife, and it was great to put a face to the name at last.   The good news was that he had arranged a place to stay with Bob Majors, a relative of Alexander Majors (descended from his brother) who was one of the three founders of the Pony Express.   Bob and wife Coleen live on a small ranch near North Platte and to the south of the site of Cold Springs Pony Express station, and I received a warm welcome.  Lady and Mo settled into a grassy paddock, Colleen produced a delicious supper, and grandson Kaul sacrificed his bed!    Here they all are ready to go off to a branding the following morning...

Droning On

Friday April 29th  Another cold damp day with the threat of rain and snow, so I took a short cut along the Tri County Supply canal ...

This meant I passed a little to the south of the presumed site of Gilman's Pony Express station, although there is some confusion about the location and identity of the Pony Express stations on this stretch of the trail.
The horsey network had sorted out a place to stay near Brady.  John Hecox had a large new machinery shed I could shelter in, with plenty of grass around it for the horses.  I arrived early so John took me for a drive up to the family holiday house on the Jeffrey Reservoir. He also let me borrow his pick-up so I could drive into Brady to buy needed supplies.
John with lovely girlfriend Samantha and Lakota Sioux friend Mike, who gave me a little good luck charm..

Like so many boys, John likes his toys, which include the speed boat in the background, a gargantuan tractor ...

....and an amazing drone...

and of course he has his faithful hound Snoop..

Freezing rain set in during the evening, so I was thankful Frank had given me permission to bring the horses into the shed if necessary, which I did.  Lady was fine but thin-skinned Mo was shaking like a leaf.  I piled saddle pads and tarpaulins on him, and with the inside blower heater he soon warmed up.

Night in a Pony Express Station

Wednesday April 27th      Do I really want to set out on such a miserable morning?...

Yep this is a field not a lake....

 

Struggling against a gale on a cold, wet day.......

...added to which the road was soggy and heavy going.  It was a head down and trudge day, and a relief towards evening when a man in a pick up stopped to ask if I needed help.  Kim Rhone not only sorted out straw filled loose boxes and feed for the horses in a barn just down the road, but also took a rather weather beaten traveller home for supper, shower and proper bed!  Kim and wife Mary Kay with whom I had a most enjoyable evening ...

This was not far from the location of the former Willow Island Pony Express station.  The log cabin on the site was moved to the Cozad town park in the 1930s apparently for use by boy scouts.
Thursday April 28th and the day started off fine but blustery.  A view towards the bluffs that flank the Platte floodplain.

 With a surname like Rhone, it is perhaps not surprising that one of Kim's farming projects has been a small vineyard.  He planted and nurtured the vines, but now finds it more profitable to lease the vineyard to a local wine making firm.  Passing his Reno Ridge vineyard on the way out ....

It was inevitable the moment I had found a nice patch of grass under an electricity line and unloaded the horses for a midday rest that an inspection helicopter would turn up. However they made an effort to avoid our section of line though Lady still looked askance at it....

 

I was delighted to discover that Lyle Gronewald had arranged for me to stay at Midway Pony Express station near Gothenburg, which is owned by the congenial Larry and Jan Gill.  Not only that, but Larry gave me permission to actually sleep in the log cabin!  The Gills have been committed to preserving this piece of history, and at their own expense have built a shed around it to protect it from the elements.   With the Gills, who also organised a journalist from Gothenburg and took me out for a meal....

My wet trousers are testimony to the lurking rain which caught up with me again as I was arriving!

 

Midway was so named as it was halfway between Aitchison and Denver on the stage line.  The log building is thought to be the only Pony Express station in Nebraska still on its original site.

The kitchen in the log cabin, which also served as my bedroom.... 

.......of course it would not have had a concrete floor in those days - this has been laid as a conservation measure.

Midway was a home station, and it was an immense privilege to be able to stay in this cabin which housed so many riders in the past, including a couple who will go down in history.  Jim Moore rode the hundred and forty miles from Midway to Julesburg and back again (as the eastbound rider had been killed by Indians) in a time of fourteen hours and forty six minutes.  This constituted an average speed of eighteen miles an hour, which as a former endurance rider I know is going some!  William Campbell was reputedly the last surviving Pony Express rider when he died in 1934. 

Ready to set off on the morning of  Friday April 29th...

This photo clearly shows the shed which has been built by the Gills to protect the old cabin.

 

PS. In researching this post I have just learnt to my great sorrow that Larry Gill passed away on 23rd June, the evening before the Pony Express Re-ride went through. He was a true gentleman and I was honoured to have had the opportunity to meet him.