Route by
William Henry Jackson. The Pony Express helped define the Overland Trail. In 1850,
U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers Captain
Howard Stansbury's expedition was returning east. At
Fort Bridger,
Jim Bridger advised Stansbury of a shorter route than the Oregon Trail. According to Erb, Brown and Hughes, "From the
Green River this trail went eastward along
Bitter Creek, skirting the
Red Desert to Muddy Creek, following the Muddy Canyon to
Bridger's Pass where the
Continental Divide was crossed, then down Sage Creek crossing the
North Platte River and dropping down onto the
Laramie Plains." General
William Henry Ashley had crossed the Laramie Plains in 1825, and
John C. Fremont had explored the area near Bridger Pass in 1842, while natives had used this and other trails for years, including the
Cherokee Trail as recently as 1849. In 1858, Lieutenant F.T. Bryan made his third expedition over the Bridger Pass route, when a topographical party with engineers determined a roadway that included built bridges, and filled-in gullies. From 1859, the Leavenworth and Pike's Peak Express operated mail stages from Missouri along the
South Pass Oregon-California trail. The
Chorpenning contract was annulled in 1860 and was subsequently awarded to the
Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company (C.O.C and P.P Express), which ran stage lines between Missouri and Utah along the Oregon Trail. In 1860, the C.O.C and P.P Express started the
Pony Express, which followed the Oregon and Mormon Trails to Salt Lake City and the Central
Nevada Route to Sacramento. The Pony Express only lasted a year before the C.O.C and P.P Express went bankrupt and the assets were sold to Ben Holladay. In 1861, Holladay was awarded the Postal Department contract for overland mail service between the end of the western terminus of the railroad in
Missouri and
Kansas and Salt Lake City. Service from Utah to
California was given to the Overland Mail Company and other stage lines. Holladay initially operated along the original South Pass route, but changed the route further south to the Bridger Pass route after Shoshone attacks. This more southerly route would also allow connecting routes to Denver. In 1862, the new route was reconnoitered, and on 21 July 1862, mail coaches began using it. According to Erb, Brown and Hughes, "Stations were located approximately every 10 to 15 miles apart and stocked with the finest horses, mules, tack and coaches. The larger places, called Home Stations, located approximately every 50 miles, where the driver's route ended, were built to accommodate travelers with meals and overnight lodging, and had a telegraph station. The smaller, or swing stations, built on one-quarter to one-half acre plots, just provided fresh teams for the coaches." Holladay retained the mail contract on the route until 1866, when it was sold to
Wells Fargo. Stage operations continued until 1869, when the completion of the
Transcontinental Railroad made stage service unnecessary. Over time, increasing emigrant traffic and homesteading in the plains and shifting
buffalo herds forced Native American tribes into southern Wyoming and northern Colorado, leading to conflicts on the Overland Trail, especially in the eastern portion along the
South Platte River and in the western portion along the
Laramie Plains. Attempts to force the Native Americans onto a reservation came to a head during the
Colorado War in 1864.
Camp Collins, near present-day
Fort Collins, Colorado, and
Fort Sanders and
Fort Halleck in Wyoming were established to protect travelers against
Sioux raids on the trail during the 1860s. Stagecoach stations and ranches along of the South Platte River were burned down by an army of
Cheyenne,
Arapaho, and Sioux in January and early February 1865 as part of a campaign of reprisals after the United States Army committed the
Sand Creek Massacre. (See
Battle of Julesburg.) == Route ==