Nebraska History: Mud Springs Pony Express Station
Mud Springs was once an important stop on the Pony Express.
Marker commemorating the Mud Springs Pony Express Station.
The Pony Express is one of the most iconic events in Western American history. Images of the fearless riders dashing across the windswept plains riding hard-running horses come to mind when we think of it. Even in its own time, the Pony Express was a symbol of entrepreneurial spirit unleashed, and a daring attempt to do something incredible. Although a financial disaster, the Pony Express did accomplish some of its goals. One partner in the firm that established the Pony Express, Alexander Majors, later wrote in his book 70 Years on the Frontier ":
“As anticipated, the amount of business transacted over this line was not sufficient to pay one-tenth of the expenses, to say nothing about the amount of capital invested. In this, however, we were not disappointed, for we knew, as stated in the outset, that it could not be made a paying institution, and was undertaken solely to prove that the route over which it ran could be made a permanent thoroughfare for travel at all seasons of the year, proving, as far as a paramount object was concerned, a complete success.”.
Delivering mail from St. Joseph to Sacramento required quite a lot of organization. In 70 Years on the Frontier, Majors also claimed that in order to deliver mail, “…the Pony Express required between four hundred and five hundred horses, about one hundred and ninety stations, two hundred men for station-keepers, and eighty riders…” If you are reading the book History of the West with Sam Payne: Pony Boy, you likely know the difference between swing stations and home stations. Swing stations were generally operated by one man who watched a few horses, and these were the stations at which riders would simply swap out horses, throw their mochilla on a new saddle, and dash away. Home stations were the stations along the route that riders actually ate, slept, and spent their time when not riding. One of the home stations in what would eventually become western Nebraska was named Mud Springs.
Located about 10 miles south of Court House Rock, Mud Springs was the home station between Julesburg and Scott’s Bluff. According to one source, it was originally named McArdles’ Ranch, as many road ranches served stagecoach and trail travelers. Eventually, however, it took its name from the muddy spring that provided the station and its animals with water in an otherwise dry area. In 1951, author Paul Henderson wrote an article for Nebraska History titled “The Story of Mud Springs” in which he described the place as:
“Mud Springs ranks high among the places which helped to maintain the old lifelines. It was an oasis far ou~ in the wilderness where the tired and thirsty emigrants and their beasts of burden rested and refreshed themselves; where the stage coaches with their passengers and drivers paused for a few hours sleep and food; where the gallant Pony Express rider finished a long and tiresome ride at the end of his division, 2 and where primitive fortifications were erected by a few of the handful of soldiers that were stationed here and there along the way to protect travelers and property from the warlike Indian tribes that roamed the country and claimed the land through which this great thoroughfare passed.”
Like most stations along the route, Mud Springs was a fairly simple collection of buildings. Richard Francis Burton described stopping at Mud Springs on his way to Salt Lake City in 1860 as:
“The station-house was not unlike an Egyptian fellah's hut. The material was sod, half peat with vegetable matter; it is taken up in large flakes after being furrowed with the plow and is cut to proper lengths with a short-handled spade. Cedar timber, brought from the neighboring hills, formed the roof. The only accommodation was an open shed, with a sort of doorless dormitory by its side…Dreading the dormitory… I cast about for a quieter retreat. Fortune favored me by pointing out the body of a dismantled wagon…”
As you can tell, Burton was not overly impressed with Mud Springs. In all honesty, Burton wasn’t impressed with much out west. He came from Britain, and most of the description of his trip from St. Joseph to Salt Lake City is one long complaint about travel, weather, people, and food. That being true, his account of the trip is still one of the best about the various stations along the Pony route.
In addition to the Burton source, Paul Henderson’s article offers this sketch showing how the station was laid out during the Pony Express station.
Each home station was operated by a station keeper. These men were sometimes married, they or were sometimes bachelors. In some cases, there is little known about these station keepers. In the case of Mud Springs, the National Parks Service identifies the station keeper as James McArdle. This aligns with Henderson’s claim that originally the station was known as McArdle’s Ranch. Richard Burton gives us only a brief description of McArdle as:
“The host, who was a kind, intelligent, and civil man, lent me a “buffalo" by way of bedding; the water-proof completed my outfit, provided with which I bade adieu for a while to this weary world.”
As a Pony Express station, Mud Springs lasted until August 1861. At this point, the telegraph line that was quickly being built to replace the Pony Express had reached the post. After that, Mud Springs continued operation, but as a telegraph station for several years until the main telegraph line followed the transcontinental railroad line a bit further south. From that point, Mud Springs was used by the military occasionally until their campaign against the Native people of the Northern plains was complete.
By the late 1890s, the original buildings were apparently barely identifiable. Luckily, the folks who built their ranch on the historic location (Mr. and Mrs. Scherer) learned it was once a Pony Express station and eventually deeded the small plot of land where the buildings once rested to the Nebraska State Historical Society. Today, a small monument marks the spot where this once important Pony Express station once stood.
The Pony Express monument at Mud Springs.
Although it was just a small link in the chain of the Pony Express, Mud Springs did in fact play an important role in American expansion in the 19th century.
