Historical
Accounts Concerning Butte Station or Its Physical Setting
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1) May 15, 1859 by Capt. James H. SimpsonSimpson most likely camped near Chorpenning's mail station which was a predecessor to the Pony Express. This site is believed to be the ruin alongside what BLM and others previously marked as the Pony Express Route. It has long been thought that this ruin was the Butte XP Station, which has recently been disproved. The water source referred to here is a seep located several hundred yards uphill from the ruin, which does not provide a reliable nor voluminous supply. Bold face type in following document is historic text, while normal type is used to indicate remarks by the editor, Mike Bunker. "We are encamped at the foot of a dark brown, isolated porphyritic rock, near the summit of which is a small dug well, 10 feet deep and 2 feet wide. The water in this well can only get here on the principle of the siphon bringing it from some distant source. At present it is only 2 1/2 feet deep in the well, and is barely sufficient for culinary purposes... (Subsequent to this date in the summer, this point had to be abandoned by the mail company as a station on account of the well drying up. I have learned, however, that they have since found water in the vicinity, probably about 2 miles to the southeast where a Sho-sho-nee told us there was water.)"2) June 8 & 9, 1860 by Army Private Charles A. Scott
Private Scott was a member of the Utah Expedition under Lt. Weed's command which had been
assigned the duty of patrolling and protecting the Pony Express and Overland Stage
Stations during the Nevada Indian Uprising of 1860. Later during this assignment he also
participated in the battle at Egan Canyon Station, and other notable forays against
marauding Indians. Scott's diary provides an unusual and interesting account of this
historical military episode. Scott does not describe Butte Station but provided a
description of the locale and trail.
[Departure from Egan Canyon on June 8]..."Started at eight. Road heavy and up hill for the first five miles then down hill and level [Butte Valley] then up hill to Butte Mail Station where we camped at two o'clock. Plenty of wood and grass on the hills. A sufficiency of water. Distance 18 miles. Rained most of the day and part of the night."
[Departure from Butte Station on June 9]..."Started at seven. The road up hill and sideling at the start, one of the horse wagons turned over twice without doing any injury. Got to the top, descended a steep hill and ascended another where we had to double team, descended, crossed Huntington Valley [Long Valley?], ascended and camped in Long Valley [west side of Long Valley?]. Plenty of grass and wood. Water not so pleny for large parties. Distance 13 miles."
3) June ?, 1860 by Major Howard Egan
Egan made the following report to the Deseret News in Salt Lake."June 27, 1860 - The Pony Express from the east [west?] arrived in this city about 8 p.m. last evening, from Ruby Valley. By it we learn that the Indians attacked and burned Butte Valley station 23 miles this side of Ruby Valley. This occurred within an hour after Major Egan left that station."
4) October 5, 1860 by Sir Richard BurtonButte Station had been rebuilt after it was visited by Private Scott - the burnt station probably is a one-level rock foundation which has been found in the locale described by Scott. The recently constructed station that Burton describes below was more substantially built and could be better defended against attack. Since Burton arrived at the station at 3 in the morning, his sense of direction is believed to be disoriented. If Burton's directions are shifted 90 degrees clock wise direction (west is actually north, etc.), his description correlates exactly with the ruin that the "BLM Pony Express Busters" (Brian Amme and Mike Bunker) relocated in August 1993. "About 3 a.m. this enjoyment was brought to a close by arriving at the end of the stage, Butte Station . . . The good station-master, Mr. Thomas, a Cambrian Mormon, who had, he informed me, three brothers in the British Army, bade us kindly welcome, built a roaring fire, added meat to our supper of coffee and doughboy, and cleared by a summary process amongst the snorers, places for us on the floor of Robber's Roost or Thieve's Delight, as the place is facetiously known throughout the countryside.
Halt at Robber's Roost, 6th October.The last night's sleep was allowed to last through the morning. This day was perforce a halt; the old white mare and her colt had been left at the mouth of the canyon, and one of the Shoshone Indian servants of the station had been persuaded by a bribe of a blanket and some gun powder to return for them . . . Whilst the Shoshone is tracking and driving the old mare, we will glance around Robber's Roost, which will answer for a study of the Western man's home. It is about as civilized as the Galway shanty, or the normal dwelling-place in Central Equatorial Africa. A cabin fronting east and west, long walls thirty feet, with portholes for windows, short [walls] ditto fifteen; material, sandstone and log ironstone slabs compacted with mud, the whole roofed with split cedar trunks, reposing on horizontals which rested on perpendiculars. Behind the house rested a corral of rails planted in the ground; the enclosed space a mass of earth, and a mere shed in one corner the only shelter. Outside the door - the hingeless and lockless backboard of a wagon bearing the wounds of bullets - and staples, which also had formed parts of locomotives, a slab acting stepping-stone over a mass of soppy black soil strewed with ashes, gobs of meat offals, and other delicacies. On the right hand a load of wood; on the left a tank formed by damming a dirty pool which had flowed through a corral behind the Roost. There was a regular line of drip distilling from the caked and hollowed snow which toppled from the thick thatch above the cedar braces. The inside reflected the outside. The length was divided by two perpendiculars,the southern most of which, assisted by a half-way canvas partition, cut the hut into unequal parts. Behind it were two bunks for four men; standing bedsteads of poles planted in the ground, as in Australia and Unyamwezi, and covered with piles of ragged blankets. Beneath the framework were heaps of rubbish, saddles, cloths, harness, and straps, sacks of wheat, oats, meal and potatoes, defended from the ground by underlying logs, and dogs nestled where they found room. The floor, which also frequently represented bedsteads was rough, uneven earth, neither tamped nor swept, and the fine end of a spring oozing through the western wall kept part of it in a fine state of eternal mud. A redeeming point was the fire-place, which occupied half of the northern short wall; it might have belonged to Guy of Warwick's great hall; its inglenooks boasted dimensions which one connects with an idea of hospitality and jollity; whilst a long hook hanging down it spoke of the bouillon-pot, and the iron oven of hot rolls. Nothing could be more simple than the furniture. The chairs. . . [ the remainder of Burton's account deals with information not related to a physical description of Butte Station or its setting ]
5) Exact date unknown by Howard R. Egan (Fall or Winter of 1862 after daily stage service established)"Well, we made it across all right and had no more trouble (extremely muddy conditions were encountered crossing Fish Springs Valley) till we passed Butte Station about a mile, where there is a very steep pull going west and, as the snow had drifted very heavily over the crest, our team gave out just about a couple of rods below the summit and, as there was not expected a mail stage for at least ten or twelve hours, we left the wagon right in the center of the road where there was no passing around it with a wagon or sleigh. So when the stage that night came up to that point, the driver unhitched his leaders, hooked on the back of our wagon and dragged it back down the hill to near the bottom. This we did not know till next morning, when the driver and one of the Indians went back after the wagon, as we were camped some distance off the road and had not heard the mail pass. My driver . . . [ the remainder of Egan's account deals with his departure from this area and eventual arrival at Ruby Valley ]
Prepared 2/14/94 by Mike Bunker for use at the Ely meeting of the National Pony Express Association chapter Revised and updated 7/14/94, 3/14&15/96 , 3/24/97
White Pine Historical and Archaeological
Society
P.O. Box 151725
Ely, NV 89315
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