Show COMING OF FIRST TELEGRAPH LINE I j SPELLED DOOM FOR PONY EXPRESS I I k 5 7 I f S 'S b t M Ml l c h a M Mt t J tr s ski t r i M. M f a 4 Y f S S V 4 i H n 4 y 1 ra L f f. f s r A Above AlJo where Pony Express riders stopped at Willow Springs The Tho Jo log house at the rear is part or of orthe the original ina station Below Boyds Boyd's station one of 01 the best preserved Both are in western Utah Clicking of Brass Instruments ments Supplanted Service in October 1861 Editors Editor's note This is the last of oC a series of stories b by a Telegram Tele- Tele gram staff writer on the pony pori ex- ex pr ss in Utah I By COB BOB lIALE Relentlessly stretching ching Its wires mile by b mile spelling the doom of oC the pony pon express the first transcontinental telegraph line was moving toward Salt Lake Cit City from California nia and the cast in the summer o or f laG 1861 As line crews working from rom east t and west neared th their ir Salt gal Lake City where where the two lines were to join join- pony jom pony riders rode p past l of wire lre piled up along th the trail an and d knew that their job was nearly done The mad dashes over plains en and mountains soon become onla only y a memory and over the wires would woul d go news end messages with a speed even the pony fastest t b by far of oC all communication could coul d never attain Few Stations Well Preserved Now 74 ye years and a few da days s 's after r the first fir riders left lell Son San Francisco Francisc o and St St. Joseph a string of remains ns of oC pony pony stations across Utah Ulah A few are well preserved others only heaps of oC rocks chunks chunk or of adobe or a few logs Before long ong however ever every one o of f these stations where riders once chan changed ed mounts in the mile a da day Y schedule will be marked with Q a mono mon of the Utah Pioneer Trails an and d Landmarks assocIation The program dm m or of dedicating them will begin this summer East of oC Salt Lake City Cit the first st tion is Mountain Dell just east of oC where Emigration canyon canon bends to I Ithe the north This station only the th I foundation of a rock structure remain ing is about aboul a mile north of Mountain Dell reservoir in Parleys Parley's can canyon on and andin andin in the area embraced by the new George Washington memorial park On June 2 tl a marker will be erected Dixie Creek Station Gone The next station Dixie creek be beyond ond B Bg g mountain on the old pioneer trail west o of Henefer Only scattered remnants of this station reEcho re re- main Echo the next stop recalls pony days es as part of the old eating eating eat eat- ing house where riders gathered to 10 wait their turn still stands The next ned station et Castle Rock in Echo canyon N is left ot of the station The n next t stop is in Wyoming W oming It is about aboul 68 miles from Salt Lake City to Castle Rock or about the distance covered by one rider Along this eastern ern route there Is only onT one monument now Q a marker at Henefer A marker will be erected at Echo this year ear by the Twelfth L. L D D. S S. S ward vanguards of the Og- Og dm Boy Scout council Riders to the west spurred their horses out of Salt SalL Lake City along a route now the state highway high high- way to the south The first station on Travelers Travelers' Rest was 05 just this sIde of the present Junction There are no remains of the station Trail Still Discernible Next came Porter Rockwell's sicone sic sic- tion one of the best known because of its keeper Rockwell w. w was one of the most famous pony men even though he was not a rider A shed of the station still s stands there a short distance this side of oC the point of the mountain The old sta stage e trail still is discernible at Dunyon's ranch Then the route went across Jordan Narrows to Joes Joe's dugout so named because its had dug du- duthe the station into the side of oC a hill Here the riders swung westward to 10 C Camp Floyd in Cedar City A couple of less important stations were next then came Faus Faust's s 's station in Egan canyon Rush valley wes was next the western end of the stretch ridden by b Ras Es Egan n and the point where Major Howard Egan began beran his ride with the first pony express into Salt Sal Lake City Foundation R Remains Fish Springs was next where there is still a station tation foundation Boyds Boyd's station named after its keeper is next and is the best preserved on the entire route in Utah Willow Springs Springs' station at al the of old d site of C llao is next This was th e scene of some of the worst fights during duro dur- ing the Indian war in the spring sprin s of 1860 The The Canyon station at the mouth mout h of Overl Overland nd canyon canon was next I It ht t w s believed there were more killings kill kill- hn ings ingsby br Indians at this station tho thoat than n at any other Once it was burned U by Y raiders who killed the k keepers Later Late r it was rebuilt and lInd parts ot of it still stil rl l stand The last station in western Uta Utah h was Deep creek now another another an an- other dangerous spot in the Indian n troubles End of oC Pon Pony in Sl Sight bt In late September of oC 1861 the en enof or of the pon pony was only a matter o of f days Financial troubles were pro fv v- v too great and expected gover n lr mint nl support did not materialize As th the telegraph lines went fo foward forward for for- r- r ward toward SnIt Salt Lake Inke City the route rout e covered by thO th pony pony shortened ri riera rid d' d ers era carrying dispatches only between betwee n the outermost telegraph stations o on n the two lines Jines Their job was wao to fi ll in a shortening gap but the job w done with the same speed and ond c enthusiasm en- en n as when the riders carrie d mall maU the entire distance from St. St J Jo seph to Sacramento At last the pony p ny surrendered t to o what it had made the Possible tran trans s continental wi wire rei In carl early October r the gap was only from ry Ruby valle y to Fort Bridger Then on October er eras 18 18 1861 the line from the cast w was as completed to Salt Lake City an and Brig Brigham m Young sent the first me sag ag to Washington The pon pony already was d dast in ing Six days later the string oC telegraph poles from frem the ws west cc ast reached Salt Lake City arid and Brigha m Young dispatched the first message to California Two d days s 's later the pony express officially ended upon orders of its operators The last riders swung down from saddles Soon the mustangs mus- mus mus I tangs angs that had Indian mounts were sold old Stations were abandoned or turned over to the telegraph company A clicking of brass Instruments was heard hard along the old route supplanting the sound ot of hoof beats bealo The pony had finished his job |