July of 1861, Samuel L. Clemens and his brother, Orion, arrived in St. Joseph by riverboat from St. Louis. "The first thing we did on that glad evening that landed us at St. Joseph was to hunt up the stage-office, and pay a hundred and fifty dollars apiece for tickets per overland coach to Carson City, Nevada."

Since Fort Kearney was a stage stop on the L. & P.P. Express Co. and C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co. lines, it is likely that Russell, Majors, and Waddell also used this site as a Pony Express station. Other sources list Fort Kearney as a station or stopping place for Pony Express riders. Mattes and Henderson express doubt that Fort Kearney ever served as an official Pony Express station. Privately owned businesses were not granted space on U.S. military bases. However, Pony Express riders possibly stopped at Fort Kearney to service the mail needs of the military.

This was one of the original Pony Express stations built in the spring of 1860. It is difficult to say whether Bolivar Roberts or Howard Egan built Robert’s Creek. Some accounts say Bolivar Roberts and his crew built stations as far east as Robert’s Creek. However, Burton says Robert’s Creek was the western most extent of Egan’s division. It seems that the station was still intact around May, 1860. After this time it is thought that the station was destroyed by Indians and Bolivar Roberts set out to rebuild destroyed stations and restock them.

The canyon was named for Howard Egan who had been in the area since the 1850s. He later became a Pony Express agent. Egan Canyon was the site of many Indian ambushes. In July 1860, U.S. troops travelling from Fort Ruby to Schell Creek came upon an Indian attack at the station barely saving the lives of the 2 station masters. Indian survivors of that skirmish took revenge on the next Pony Express stop, Schell Creek Station, killing the stationmaster and 2 assistance and running off all of the livestock.

Sources generally agree on the identity of a Pony Express station at Fort Laramie. However, the exact location of the station at or near Fort Laramie remains unknown. Nevertheless, the well-known fort's distance from stations at Sand Point and Verling's Ranch makes the area just west of the post a logical station site. Fort Laramie's adobe-stone sutler's store, which still exists, housed a post office in the 1850s, 1870s, and 1880s. Its status during the Pony Express era remains unknown.

The Horse Creek Station site is most likely located on the west bank of Horse Creek, about two miles northeast of Lyman, in Scotts Bluff County. The station served as a stop for the Pony Express. Several sources identify Horse Creek as a station, which, according to Mattes, possibly also served at one time as the site of Joseph Robidoux's second trading post. (NPS)

From Mud Springs, Pony Express riders followed a route that passed through Pumpkin Seed Crossing and southwest of the Court House Rock formation, where the Pony Express station was located. This site is five miles south and one and one-fourth miles west of Bridgeport, Nebraska. Most sources generally agree on its identity as a C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co. station. (NPS)

Note: Burton writes about "The Court-House" but does not mention a station, or even a stop.

The exact location of Pole Creek No. 2 Station site remains unknown. The name occurs in the 1861 Overland Mail Company contract, and Mattes and Henderson place the station along Lodgepole Creek near the town of Lodgepole, about halfway between Nine Mile Creek and Pole Creek No. 3. Trail historians Mattes and Henderson also suggest a possible connection between this site and another, that was later occupied in 1865 by E. Farrell. Several other sources also list Pole Creek No. 2 as a station. (NPS)

Note: Point plotted about 2 miles south and 4 miles west of Sutherland. Google Maps does not show bluffs.

The Cottonwood Springs Pony Express station site, may have been on the east side of Cottonwood Creek. The station, also known as McDonald's Ranch, served previously as a stop for the Leavenworth and Pike's Peak Express Company stage line as well. Most sources do not dispute the identity of Cottonwood Springs as a station. (NPS)