Almond Stage Station - Point of Rocks, Wyoming
Posted by: 
Hikenutty
N 41° 40.594 W 108° 47.500
12T E 683817 N 4616222
This building was built in 1861 as a stagecoach station along the Overland Stage Line. It later served as a Pony Express station, a school and a residence.
Waymark Code: WM257N
Location: Wyoming, United States
Date Posted: 09/06/2007
Views: 26
The following excerpt is from "The Oregon Trail: From the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean":
Right from Point of Rocks on a trail that nearly parallels US 30 to the REMAINS OF THE ALMOND STAGE STATION.
Beadle wrote of the region: 'For sixty miles on Bitter Creek, Wyoming, the soil is a mass of clay, or sand, and alkali - a horrible and irreclaimable desert which has made the place a byword...On the stage routes across such tracts the animals labor through a cloud of dust and the coach drags heavily, the wheels often causing a disagreeable cry in the sand and soda, while the passengers endure as best they can the irritation to eye and nostril, and the slime formed upon the person by dust and sweat. This penetrating alkaline dust sifts in at the smallest crevice, and even the clothing in a close valise is often covered with it.'
This station and the barn nearby were built in 1861 when the stagecoach line was moved south due to ambushes by Indians. It was also used by the Pony Express and as a stopping point for wagon trains following the Overland or Cherokee Trail. Adjacent to the station you can still see faint ruts from the Overland/Cherokee Trail and up on the hill you'll find a tiny little cemetery filled with the graves of the passengers of an ambushed stagecoach.
In the 1990's the station was restored and it is now a registered National Historic Place. Around the building are interesting historic markers, along with a post marking the Overland trail which passes by the structure.