Cold Springs Ruins

Mount Lewis Field Office BLM

(map link)

I never want to do a long drive, and this was quite a long drive, without finding a little something along the way. Well, next to a random toilet in the middle of generally Bureau of Land Management lands along the so called Loneliest Highway in America (US-50) are three little pieces of western history all in one clump. Across to the left is an old Overland Stage and Mail stop. Across to the right, a telegraph repeater and maintenance area. On up the hill at a nice little 1.5 miles is a Pony Express stop. So many ways to communicate across the expanse of what was already, in its way, flyover country even before planes. Oh, they also could stop along the way, same as the planes.

Just a big dirt and gravel lot for a short trail and two shorter trails to history.

I decided first to cross over the highway to the nearby locations. There's a paved lot on that side with a state historical marker and claims to an ADA compliance all the way to the ruins on either side. There's a paved path down, but I wouldn't recommend trying the rocky and eroded old road that completes the path in a wheelchair.

Nevada State Historical Marker No. 83 for the Cold Springs Station, also called Rock Creek.

There are plenty of informative signs contributed by BLM, too. Behind this one, you can also see the rough trail.

And an Emigrant Trails marker. This one is for the Overland Stage specifically, but has a California Trail sticker too.

I headed over to the Overland Stage stop first. That seemed like it might be the biggest and most interesting. It satisfied biggest. Unfortunately, except for a rock wall, it is entirely locked away in chain-link topped with barbed wire. There are little signs scattered around inside, but access to those has been cut off with a bulky lock on the gate.

The best view of the old rock walls of the Overland Stage stop. Also, a little of one of the interior signs. Most can't be read from the fence.

There's a lot of Overland Stage and Mail stop ruins here, but no longer accessible.

There were two buildings. This was a large open area for the stage to enter with rooms around it for living and passengers.

Walls were built of the local volcanic rocks.

I continued on to the Transcontinental Telegraph station without much hope to really get to see it. Here the insult of the chain-link and barbs were added to by not even putting in an opening in the range fence.

The telegraph station.

I squeezed through the range fence where someone had already opened it a bit. There was another nice, sturdy padlock to keep all from passing through the gate. At least it's much smaller and you can get a better look at it from outside a fence?

A closer look at the telegraph station. Presumably you could go in and read the small sign once.

So back through the range fence and across the highway, I got myself to the trailhead for the original Pony Express station. (After the Overland Stage station was built, they took up residence there.) I hoped that the thing you had to invest real time in getting to would not be locked down so tightly. I couldn't even see where the ruins are from the trailhead.

Lots of signage at the trailhead for the Pony Express Station with route and other information on the four sides. While the telegraph was subsidized by Congress, the Pony Express had to make it on their own! Even then they were "picking winners and losers". And while the Pony Express was romantic, the telegraph did seem more worth it.

The trail gets use and is visible through the desert. There's often rocks lining at least one side of it. It does get a little like a tiny wash in some spots, so it's not perfect.

The trail is generally easy to follow although washed out in some spots. Rocks along the side help show the way.

Plenty of view along the gentle upward slope.

Water! And a lot of glare.

There are benches at ⅓ and ⅔ along the way, each pointed to get a little different view. All the better to make resting more restful, should it be needed.

A bench sits at the half mile point to give the legs a rest.

A single tree showing the season marks a spot along the stream. I wondered if the station was near it. Nope.

And there are flowers still! Even in the desert in fall and with frost coming down at night.

There are flowers here! I found a ring of spiny phlox, and then some more higher up.

The second bench.

There's also blooming rabbit bush for mounds of bright yellow and blooming sagebrush, which is somewhat hard to tell.

Then I got to see the ruin finally. It is fenced to keep the cows out, but the gate works just fine.

The ruins of the Pony Express station.

I got to read the outside sign, then cross the stream again and walk in to see what goes on on the internal signs too. Plus I got to see the actual thing up close. It has had the wall next to the stream fall out since it was stabilized, though. Do we blame people being able to lean on it when they shouldn't or the water?

One of four signs within the ruin, this one showing a map of the rooms and their usage as well as what is a newer addition.

Into the blacksmithing and livery area via a small opening.

The fireplace in the fortified living quarters.

Large windows were replaced with gun ports in the living quarters during the Piute War.

Still a large window into the interior areas.

There's no bench to rest on near the ruins, a bit of an oversight, but I found a suitable sitting rock just upstream for having a snack and watching the mountains before rolling back down the gentle hill.

More of that gentle, but not accessible, trail.

And back to the most used feature of this trailhead.

A few miles down the road, I stopped by the New Pass Station. This was a stage station and freighter stop. It is also locked down tight, but one can get a look over it a little better since the road is built up next to it.

The New Pass Station beside its historic marker.

A little better view of these locked in ruins.

The best ruins were, of course, the ones I could walk around among. It's really not very good to just look through chain-link at the outside.

*photo album*




©2023 Valerie Norton
Written 26 Oct 2023