A series where we take a #lookback at the stories and history of our community, brought to you by Mick Pryor, Financial Advisor with Edward Jones.
Before South Pass experienced the boom of the gold rush, various other entities were in the area and tried their hand at establishing permanent (or at least, strongly garrisoned) structures and stations.
As early as 1850, companies were attempting to run mail as a part of express service operations over South Pass and the Emigrant Road. Colonel James Estill formed the J.M Estill & Co. near Pacific Springs and his associate James W. Denver posted up here in a building, sending mail and also selling liquor and cigars at a high price point. Their operation was short-lived.
Travelers diaries note ‘French Canadian traders’ operating trading posts in the South Pass area; while most records seem to indicate known and established stations further east of South Pass and closer to Independence Rock and Devil’s Gate, traders did operate out of wagons and tents along with constructed buildings. Winfield Scott Ebey in his diary of 1854 noted Hubert Papin, who was known to have worked with other traders such as August Archambault and Charles ‘Seminoe’ Lajeunesse, was one such French Canadian trader he encountered running a mail station at ‘Sweetwater Station’. Another historian has noted that Archambault had a trading post in the South Pass area that he built and ran about 1852 or possibly earlier.
1857 was an active year for the area. Brigham Young was working to establish a mail route and way of protecting Mormon immigrants on their way to Salt Lake City and set up his Y.X. Express Company. Stephen Markham, one of his militia men, went up to South Pass and built a mail and service station near the Sweetwater River, helping immigrants with such things as blacksmithing alongside mailing letters. This was a short term post, however, as Markham burned it when U.S. Troops were known to be marching towards Utah. It was noted, however, that not all the buildings burnt to the ground.
Near the same timeframe, Henry Gilbert, a man at Fort Bridger, contracted with the U.S. to help move supplies for the troops. He also went up to the South Pass area with his partner William Garrish and built ‘Gilbert’s Trading Post’. Located on the south side of the Sweetwater River, travelers noted it consisted of four cabins, for a time one unfinished, that had a mail station and trading available, alongside blacksmithing services. It was also a stop on the short-lived Pony Express, before the telegraph line came in in 1861 and the Pony Express was made defunct. The company running the Pony Express, the Central Overland California & Pike’s Peak Express, employed Benjamin F. Lowe and Battese Lorain to manage the ‘Upper Sweetwater Station’ for them in 1860. At some point in 1861, Gilbert relocated to Montana and James G. Leonard was appointed the postmaster to the mail station at South Pass, post office #31. Leonard was here from March 1861 until September 1862. A famous visitor stopped here, the author Mark Twain, on his way along the Emigrant Road in 1861 and noted that Leonard was postmaster, blacksmith, mayor, etc., all in one person.
In 1858, Frederick Lander was the newly appointed man in charge of laying out a new cutoff to shorten time on the Emigrant Road. When he came out to the South Pass area to start his cutoff road, he set up a stone marker at ‘Zero Mile’ and had his men build a blockhouse and such to hold supplies. They called their base of operations ‘Fort Aspen Hut’, and it was located 3.5 miles north of the South Pass Station/Gilbert’s Post on the north side of the Sweetwater River. It was nearer to what people noted to be the ‘old Mormon mail station’. Ft. Aspen Hut also served as a visual to guide emigrants towards the new cutoff. Lander also had a gentleman stay after the road was completed, to monitor climate and meteorological observations, a Charles Miller who stayed at the more established Gilbert’s Post. Unfortunately, tensions existed in the area over the new cutoff, as traders and Mormons alike were upset at the lack of business by driving emigrants on a different route. This may have been the cause of Charles Miller’s demise, as he was killed by a C.E. Blakeslee during an altercation on February 4, 1859.
With escalating tensions in the region in the early 1860’s between emigrants and Native American tribes, the U.S. government worked to start garrisoning stations and place troops to protect telegraph lines, mail and freight, and emigrants themselves. President Lincoln worked with Brigham Young to have his militia protect the Overland Route until the U.S. Troops were sent in summer of 1862. Colonel William Collins came with troops from the Ohio 11th Company G, and they worked to build garrisoned stations along the route of the Emigrant Road. In June of 1862, the South Pass Station was built up and renamed ‘Camp Highland’ with about a dozen men stationed here to protect telegraph and mail lines. Various names ended up being attributed to the station, ‘South Pass Station’, ‘Last Crossing’, ‘Ninth Crossing’, ‘Upper Sweetwater Station’, even by some mail couriers as ‘South Pass City’. Colonel William Collins’ son, Colonel Caspar Collins, eventually was placed in charge of the stations along the Sweetwater, and he had small crews of men guarding stations and working to repair telegraph lines that were cut often. Caspar was killed at a fight at the Platte Bridge Station in 1865, and troops were pulled that fall. That winter, the South Pass Station was burned down.
By 1868, the station was rebuilt as people were flocking to the area in pursuit of gold. The Colorado Stage Company built their own station here to manage mail and freight. Within the same year, the towns of South Pass City and Atlantic City were built and people were moving to these areas, closer to the mine claims that were being worked. As a result, mail and freight routes changed and the South Pass Station came into disuse. The area is now known as ‘Burnt Ranch’, a call back to the number of times the station (and nearby stations) were burnt down. Privately owned now, but a once important part of the history of our area.
Next up for the Fremont County Museum
January 24, 3-5pm at the Pioneer Museum “Sweetwater Ranch Life, The Paintings of Jack Corbett” Exhibition Opening
We will be announcing a full 2026 schedule of programs very soon, Stay Tuned!
Call the Dubois Museum 1-307-455-2284, the Pioneer Museum 1-307-332-3339 or the Riverton Museum 1-307-856-2665 for detail regarding their programs.
The Dubois Museum, the Pioneer Museum in Lander and the Riverton Museum need your financial support. In the current economic environment, the museums are more reliant than ever on donations from the private sector to continue to provide the quality programs, collections management, exhibits and services that have become their hallmark over the last four years. Please make your tax deductible contribution through the Wind River Cultural Centers Foundation www.windriverccf.com or by sending a check to Fremont County Museums 450 N 2nd Rm 320 or taking it directly to the museum you choose to support.
Photo: Top contains a map showing Ft. Aspen Hut and South Pass Station. Bottom is a sketch of South Pass Station circa 1864, courtesy of the Wyoming Division of Cultural Resources.