Marker Title (required): Cold Springs: A Lonely Crossroads
Marker Text (required):
Cold Springs played an important role in the development of transportation and communication in the expanding United States between 1860 and 1927. Seeking to provide rapid communications between the United States and California, in 1860 the fabled Pony Express began a short-lived, but illustrious mail service. A way station was erected 1 1/2 miles east of this site, one of many that dotted the route between Missouri and San Francisco.
A almost the same time as the Pony Express, the Butterfield Overland Stage Company pioneered a stage coach route through the Intermountain West. Many stage station were constructed alone the way, including one just southwest of this site. In 1861, the first Transcontinental Telegraph line was strung from Omaha, Nebraska, to Carson City, Nevada, creating the first high-speed communication link between the east and west coasts. This doomed the Pony Express. One of the telegraph’s stations was constructed just north of here.
As the nation emerged into the 20th Century, the automobile became the transportation mode of the future. New roads and highways were needed to accommodate an increasingly mobile population. In 1912, the first transcontinental highway, later to be named the Lincoln Highway, was conceived. Across most of Nevada, the Lincoln Highway is modern U.S. Highway 50.
County (required): Churchill
Marker Type (required): Metal Plaque
Other Marker Type (optional): NA
Is Marker Damaged? (required): No
Other Damage Type (optional): NA
Marker Number (If official State Marker from NV SHPO website above, otherwise leave blank): Not Listed
URL - Website (optional): Not listed
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