Sand Springs Pony Express Station (closed)

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When we think of the Pony Express we tend to think of the riders, lone figures on horseback galloping from station to station. They are the romantic vision that keeps the legend alive. Yet they never could have done it without the stationmasters and attendants. Like the riders, these men were lonely and often in danger. There was little excitement in their lives and boredom was constant. Living conditions were bad at every station, but some were worse than others. Sir Richard Burton, British scholar and explorer, visited Sand Springs Station on October 17, 1860, and described it in his diary this way:

"The water near this vile hole was thick and stale with sulphury salts; it blistered even the hands. The station house was no unfit object in such a scene, roofless and chairless, filthy and squalid, with a smoky fire in one corner, and a table in the center of an impure floor, the walls open to every wind and the interior full of dust."

Although every Pony Express employee had to swear "...that I will drink no intoxicating liquors...", the most common items found during excavation of the station were fragments of liquor bottles. Even solemn oaths were hard to keep when faced with constant loneliness, boredom and isolation.

Covered by sand for over a hundred years, Sand Springs Station lay undisturbed until 1976. It was rediscovered by a team of Archaeologists, then excavated and stabilized in 1977. An interpretive sign has been placed in each room within the station to explain its function. You are invited to explore this National Historic Site at your own pace, but please, leave only footprints and take only photographs.

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