Note: Plotted on Muddy Creek

Raymond and Mary Settle, noted historians and experts on the Pony Express, and one other source identify Little Muddy as the next station west of Deer Creek Station. The stone station, erected without mortar, reportedly stood ten miles west of Deer Creek. However, its exact location has not been identified. (NPS)

Located just east of present Glenrock, Wyoming, Deer Creek Station, on the route of the Oregon Trail, served as a Pony Express Station prior to its designation as a telegraph station in 1861. According to one early telegraph operator, “Deer Creek was 100 miles west of Fort Laramie, and 28 miles east of where Casper was later situated. It is located 10 miles from Box Elder Station and 10 miles from Bridger Station on the west bank of Deer Creek. The station was owned and operated by an Indian Trader by the name of Bisonette, who was Station Keeper for a while.

Little is known about the history of Box Elder Creek Station other than several sources agree that it served as a Pony Express station. A man named Wheeler managed station operations at Box Elder, which probably also served as a passenger/mail stage stop under the 1861 Overland Mail Company contract. Franzwa does not indicate that Box Elder Station served specifically as a Pony Express station, but he plotted a station with this name on his maps.  (NPS)

The 1861 Overland Mail Company contract also listed Lapierelle as a passenger/mail station stop, which Bishop and Henderson listed as Lapierelle (La Prele)—a station between Bed Tick and Box Elder. Franzwa also identifies a La Prele Station on his maps, but he does not specifically cite it as a Pony Express site.  (NPS)

The 1861 Overland Mail Company contract listed Bed Tick as a passenger/mail station stop, and Bishop and Henderson placed Bed Tick as a station on their map between Fort Fetterman and Lapierelle (La Prele). The only other resource that identifies Bed Tick as a potential Pony Express station is Gregory Franzwa who noted Bed Tick Station in his Oregon Trail maps. However, Franzwa did not specifically identify it as a Pony Express stop.  (NPS)

It is located 15 miles from Elk Horn Station and 10 miles from Bed Tick Station. Also, a creek and town in Converse County, Wyoming, named for La Bonte (Labonte, LaBonte), an early French trapper. He was a trapper with “Uncle Dick” Woolston’s party in 1838 was killed in Utah. The Indians after killing this noted character, cut flesh from the bones and ate it. La Bonte belonged in Wyoming and had lived for a number of years on the North Platte in what is now Converse County.

Several sources identify Cottonwood as a station between Nine Mile Station (Ward's) and Horseshoe Creek. However, Helen Henderson asserts that there were two Cottonwood Stations in the area. According to Henderson, the oldest of the two stations, which was one-half mile from the Badger railroad station, served as the Pony Express station. Cottonwood Creek is often mentioned in diaries and journals of pioneers and military men, as well as the itineraries of stage and Pony Express routes.

This site is nine miles west of Fort Laramie. Sources identify this station by several names, including Nine Mile Station, Sand Point, Ward's, and Central Star. Sand Point served as a both relay station for the Pony Express and stage lines. According to Gregory Franzwa, in the 1840s, Ward and Guerrier operated the Sand Point Trading Post at the site, and then in the 1850s, Jules E. Coffee, managed a stage station here.  (NPS)

According to Merrill Mattes, Verdling's Ranch Station is probably eight miles from Fort Laramie and two miles west of Lingle, Wyoming. James Bordeaux (spelled various ways), probably a French-Canadian, managed a trading post/store at the station and his association with the site was responsible for some of the many names for this station. Other sources also list Verdling's Ranch or Bedeau's Ranch as a station.  (NPS)