Rock Creek (Cold Springs Station)

[83]       

Rock Creek (Cold Springs Station)

Churchill County
  39.39524, -117.85099

"The openness of this area is haunting and it couldn't come at a better time! #83 marks the last Churchill County marker on my list and with it, another county finished out of seventeen. Something tells me that this process of seeking, cataloguing, and ultimately SEEING Nevada in all of its primitive and rustic glory might be something that others will try to follow. As I sit here prepping my camera and my timer ... alone ... without a speck of another person for miles ... I'm reminded that what I'm doing isn't for celebrity status, or to somehow atone for something I've done in the past. No. I'm doing this for this. This very moment. If nobody else does, then have." -- Journal Entry, October 2007

Along US 50, 59 miles east of Fallon, 2 miles west of Cold Springs Station

Original Date Visited: 10/22/07

Signed: Both lanes of US 50

  • Marker 83 at Cold Springs
  • Marker 83 and the Loneliest View
  • Marker 83 plaque

Exact Description:
In its day, an important stage stop on John Butterfield's (1861-1866) and Wells Fargo & Company's (1866-1869) Overland Stage & Mail Company's historic line along the Simpson Route between Salt Lake City and Genoa, Nevada. Fresh horses, blacksmith services, and wagon-repair facilities were available here.

The Pony Express Cold Springs Station was constructed in 1860 on the sagebrush bench eastward across the highway.

To the north are the ruins of a telegraph repeater and maintenance station which serviced this segment of the Overland Telegraph-Pacific Telegraph Company's pioneer transcontinental line, which was completed between Sacramento and Omaha in 1861. The line was abandoned in August 1869. The coming of the transcontinental railroad and its parallel telegraph line along the Humboldt River to the north spelled the demise of both the telegraph line and the stage route here.

Next Marker:

JEDEDIAH STRONG SMITH

Related Links & Markers:

 [135] -- New Pass Station   Nevada Towns: Cold Springs    Pony Express Cold Springs Station

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