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POINT OF ROCKS (ALMOND) OVERLAND STATE STATION

TO DO -- USE THE ARTICLE WIZARD. ---

POINT OF ROCKS Fourteen miles to the west of Black Butte is the Point of Rocks swing station. Located in the Bitter Creek Valley at the base of some spectacular sandstone outcroppings, this station was constructed from sandstone. This station, and those to the west, were supposedly built by Moses Byrne, under the direction of Ben Holladay. Buildings were located on both sides of the Overland Trail on Bitter Creek. There were also springs nearby that had cold, pure water.

It is reported that in 1863, Jack Slade, the now ex-division superintendent of the Overland Stage, robbed the stage near Point of Rocks. Slade killed seven passengers who then started the cemetery. Butch Cassidy also hid out in this vicinity after robbing a train.

When the Union Pacific Railroad reached this area in 1868, the Point of Rocks station became an important juncture point for freighting companies going to the South Pass gold mines. It was this freighting business that caused Point of Rocks to remain a viable town for many years. Today it is still a charming little town. There is an emigrant campground to teh east of Point of Rocks, and names carved into the sandstone bluffs near the springs can still be seen. The State of Wyoming owns the station ruins, and it is on the National Register of Historic Places.

http://www.over-land.com/bigpond.html This native sandstone structure, built in 1862 by the Overland Stage, is one of the only remaining stations on the Overland Trail. The stables are in ruins, but the station building has been restored. It withstood an attack and attempted burning by Plains Indians and the reported robbery and murder of stagecoach passengers by Jack Slade, outlaw and once stage line superintendent. With the coming of the transcontinental railroad in 1868, it remained a station for a stage line running between the railroad and the Sweetwater gold mines to the north, then served as a home, schoolhouse and ranching headquarters.

http://www.gozaic.com/Explore/Heritage-Areas/Tracks-Across-Wyoming/Sites/Point-of-Rocks-(Almond)-Overland-Stage-Station-His/

--  Point of Rocks Stage Station State Site offers visitors an interesting historical, outdoor experience. The sandstone stage station on the south bank of Bitter Creek was built in the summer of 1862 when "Stagecoach King" Ben Holladay moved his stage line south from the Oregon Trail to the Overland Trail because of Indians destroying or marauding the current business site. The Station was attacked by Indians who attempted to burn it, but without much success because of its rock composition. Reportedly, it was also the scene of a robbery committed by the notorious Jack Slade-renegade agent of the Overland Stage Line-in which seven stagecoach passengers were killed.

Point of Rocks, frequently referred to as the "Almond Stage Station" or "Rock Point," was originally built to accommodate travelers on the Overland State in the early 1860s. Built of local sandstone, the sod-roofed structure also served as a freight station, a store, a school, a ranch headquarters and a private home. After 1868, the station served as the junction of the Overland Trail and the transcontinental railroad while during the 1870s, it was the closest railway station to the South Pass gold mines.

Point of Rocks remained the southern terminus for a local stage line between the railroad and the Sweetwater gold mines, 75 miles, and a 15-hour drive, to the north. When mining activity in the Sweetwater District declined, the station was sold and used as a home. Today the main station building is restored but the stables, once a substantial structure with stalls for four teams, is a sandstone ruin.

http://www.ohranger.com/wy/point-rocks-stage-station-state-site

Point of Rocks

The Point of Rocks Stage Station is located in a valley of Bitter Creek in Sweetwater County, Wyoming. It was built of native sandstone taken from the surrounding hills. Mud mortar chinked the walls. The station has at various times served as a stage stop, a freight station, a store, a school, a ranch headquarters and a home. In some references the Station is also known as "Rock Point" or "Almond" station. Point of Rocks principal significance is as a stop on the Overland Stage Line during the 1860s and as the junction of the Overland Trail and the Union Pacific Railroad in 1868. For a number of years the Station was the starting terminal for the stage and freight operations running north to South Pass City and the Sweetwater mines.

From 1862 to 1868 Point of Rocks station served the Overland Stage and the Wells, Fargo and Company operation when the latter purchased the business from Ben Holladay. Specific references to events that occurred around Point of Rocks are scarce but the entire vicinity was the scene of considerable Indian hostilities during the Civil War years. The station was burned out at least once. According to one account the station was also the scene of a robbery staged by a "Jim Slade, ex-stage line superintendent, turned bandit." Seven passengers on the coach were reportedly killed in the holdup. The westward construction of the transcontinental railroad reached Point of Rocks in the summer of 1868. The two routes met at this point for the first time and the Overland Stage was, for all practical purposes, then out of business.

In 1877 Lawrence Taggert, a Union Pacific section foreman, moved his family into the building. His wife turned one room of the station into a schoolroom and served as teacher. A daughter of the Taggerts, Mrs. Charles Rador, lived in the station as a child and in 1897 moved with her husband into the building. Mr. Rador operated his sheep-ranching outfit from the station and the Radors resided there until 1910. The last person to reside at the stage station was Jim McKee, supposedly at one time a member of the Hole-in-the-Wall gang. McKee is said to have spent much of his time looking for a cache of unrecovered loot from one of Butch Cassidy's robberies. The Point of Rocks Stage Station became the property of the State of Wyoming in 1947.

(this information taken from the WY SHPO website)

The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is managed as a State of Wyoming Historic Site.

http://www.historicwyoming.org/index.php?id=50

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Point of Rocks Stage Station In 1862, the Overland Stage line built Point of Rocks Stage Station (also known as “Rock Point” or the “Almond Stage Station”). Today, this structure built from native sandstone is one of the only stage stations remaining intact on the Overland Trail. While the stables are now in ruins, the station building has been restored and stands as a testament to the enduring nature of Point of Rocks. Over the years, the station has withstood at least one attack and attempted burning by Plains Indian groups and the reported robbery and murder of stagecoach passengers by Jack Slade, the notorious outlaw and once stage line superintendent. With the coming of the transcontinental railroad in 1868, Point of Rocks remained an important station for a stage line running between the railroad and the Sweetwater gold mines to the north. Following the decline of mining activity, Point of Rocks served as a home, schoolhouse, and ranching headquarters at one time or another. Stop by this once lively station on your way through southwest Wyoming and imagine life on the Overland Stage line during the 1860s.

http://www.wyomingheritage.org/pointOfRocks.html

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Point of Rocks Station Point of Rocks Station, 22 miles northeast of Rock Springs and one-half mile south of I-80, was built in 1861 or 1862 by Ben Holladay when Indian depredations completely interdicted stage traffic on the Oregon Trail and forced traffic further south. The move did not completely stop the problem and the station was burned by the Indians at least once. In 1863, Overland ex-superintendent Joseph A. "Jack" Slade held up the stage near here, killing 7 passengers, resulting in the start of the cemetery (C.M. Russell, Holdup of the Overland Stage, below). The Railroad reached Point of Rocks in 1868, but for many years the town remained an important junction point for stages and freighters going to South Pass. In 1870, a stage left twice daily for South Pass City, a jolting 15 hour ride. With the decline of South Pass City and the mines, stage service was discontinued in 1877, and the station became a private residence and a school.

Point of Rocks Station, undated The last resident of the station was Jim McKee who reputedly was a member of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. The Union Pacific, who by then had acquired title to the building, attempted evict him, but was thwarted by McKee's threats of bodily harm to the railroad representive. To deter other visitors McKee posted a smallpox warning on the door. Today, the town is little more than an interchange on I-80 with several trailer homes, a gas station and fireworks store.

Holdup of the Overland Stage, C. M. Russell Slade had served the Company as division superintendent, first in Julesburg, replacing a French-Canadian, Jules Beni, after whom the town was named, and later in the Rocky Ridge Division. Beni was discharged when a new general superintendent, Benjamin F. Ficklin (1827-1871), discovered that Beni was stealing from the Company. Ficklin, a Virginian, allegedly had killed two men prior to his becoming general superintendent and had earlier been a rough and tough freighter on the plains. He served in both the Albert Sidney Johnston expedition to Utah and the Lander Expedition. He allegedly voiced the opinion that a man going on the Plains should never wash his face till he comes off again. Frank Root and William Connelly in their 1901 The Overland Stage to California: Personal Reminiscenses and Anthentic History of the Great Overland Stage Line and Pony Express From the Missour River to the Pacific Ocean indicate that Slade was brought in by Ficklin as part of a "general 'cleaning up'" of the line from theives who were "congregated along the route and were systematically preying upon the company's property." Slade, when sober, was the perfect gentlemen, but when besotted could be somewhat belligerent and was one not to readily forgive slights. After Jules was dismissed, differences, arose between the two which resulted in each shooting and seriously wounding the other. Slade supposedly vowed that he would have Jules' ears. Jules departed the area. Months later, Slade was returning from the Pacific Springs Station when he received word that Jules Beni was in the area. Some of Slade's employees captured Jules and took him to the Rocky Ridge Station, binding him to a post in the station's cattle-yard. There, Slade would periodically, through the night, stick his head out the door and take pot shots at Jules, nicking him. In the morning Slade finally dispatched Jules, cutting off his ears and turning one in to a watch fob and the other into an 1860's version of a worry stone. Jules, himself, may not have been so innocent. Eugene Ware, a young captain in the military serving in the area, later wrote:

On the south side of the South Platte, perhaps about a mile east of the mouth of "Lodgepole Creek," a Frenchman by the name of Jules had started a trading-post. The place was a great Cheyenne crossing-ground going north and south, and a frequent place of Cheyenne rendezvous. It was also much used by the Sioux. The Cheyennes had a great liking for the country on the South Platte at the mouth of Lodgepole, and had had camps there for many years. Jules was said to be a half-breed French-and-Indian trader, and to have established this post for the purpose of trading with the Cheyenne Indians. It was said his name was Jules Beni but everybody called him "Jules." He was a man of keen native shrewdness, an exceedingly dangerous man, with a peppery, fierce disposition. He had killed several persons, and had become a great deal of a character in the country. A man who had known him several years told me that Jules once killed two persons of local celebrity, cut off their ears, dried them, and carried these four ears in his pockets. That every once in a while he would take them out and show them to somebody. They were great trophies, as he thought. Mark Twain in Roughing It described, as a young lad, meeting Slade: In due time we rattled up to a stage-station, and sat down to breakfast with a half-savage, half-civilized company of armed and bearded mountaineers, ranchmen and station employees. The most gentlemanly-appearing, quiet and affable officer we had yet found along the road in the Overland Company's service was the person who sat at the head of the table, at my elbow. Never youth stared and shivered as I did when I heard them call him SLADE! Here was romance, and I sitting face to face with it! -- looking upon it -- touching it -- hobnobbing with it, as it were! Here, right by my side, was the actual ogre who, in fights and brawls and various ways, had taken the lives of twenty-six human beings, or all men lied about him! I suppose I was the proudest stripling that ever traveled to see strange lands and wonderful people.

He was so friendly and so gentle-spoken that I warmed to him in spite of his awful history. It was hardly possible to realize that this pleasant person was the pitiless scourge of the outlaws, the raw-head-and-bloody-bones the nursing mothers of the mountains terrified their children with.

Indeed, Slade insisted on personally refilling young Twain's empty coffee cup (copy of original illustration above).

Joseph Alfred Slade

Ultimately, Slade's belligerency caught up with him. In Virginia City, Mont., the Committee on Vigilance, of which Slade was a member, took offense at his shooting up the local saloons. When he refused service of a summons he was arrested. The Committee, headed by one Paris S. Pfouts, the Town's founder, first mayor and owner of the mercantile establishment, received advice from a corresponding committee in Nevada City that the appropriate punishment was hanging. Accordingly, on March 10, 1864, 11 days following Pfouts' installation as first Master of the Virginia City Masonic Lodge, the Committee, most of whom were Masons, inducted Slade at the end of a rope into a different type of lodge. The ceremony, held in the corral across from Pfouts' store, was conducted by standing Slade on a packing case, with the rope tied to a cross beam at the corral entrance.

Slade's widow pickled his body in alcohol, kept it under her bed for several months, before transporting it to Salt Lake City for reshipment for burial in Clinton County, Illinois, where Slade had been reared. Unfortunately, arrangements for catching the stage to Illinois went awry. Slade's body was temporarily buried in Salt Lake City and still awaits the east-bound stage.

The two principal sources for the story of Slade are Thomas Josiah Dimsdale's Vigilantes of Montana (1865) and Nathaniel P. Langford's Vigilante Days and Ways (1890). The two disagree as to whether Slade did a slow torturous killing of Jules (Dimsdale) or whether Slade killed Jules quickly and justifiably (Langford). Langford adds one sadistic touch. Langford relates that after anouncing to Jules his intent to shoot Jules, Slade told Jules:

"I will now, if you wish it, give you time to make your will." Jules replied that he should like to do so; and a gentleman who was awaiting the departure of the coach, volunteered to draw it up for him. The inconvenience of walking back and forth from the corral to the station, through the single entrance in front of the latter, made this a protracted service. The will was finally completed and read for Jules. He expressed himself satisfied with it, and the drawer of it went to the station to get a pen and ink, with which he could sign it. When he returned a moment afterwards, Jules was dead. Slade had shot him in the head during that temporary absence.

Both Dimsdale and Langford agree that Slade was a perfect gentlemen when sober and belligerent when drunk. Professor Dimsdale wrote:

There are probably a thousand individuals in the West possessing a correct knowledge of the leading incidents of a career that terminated at the gallows, who still speak of Slade as a perfect gentleman, and who not only lament his death, but talk in the highest terms of his character, and pronounce his execution a murder. One way of accounting for the diversity of opinion regarding Slade is sufficiently obvious. Those who saw him in his natural state only would pronounce him to be a kind husband, a most hospitable host and a courteous gentleman. On the contrary, those who met him when maddened with liquor and surrounded by a gang of armed roughs, would pronounce him a fiend incarnate. There is also disagreement as to the location of Jules' demise. Twain puts it at Rocky Ridge, a desolate, isolated station near present day Protsmans Knob. Langford puts it at "Chansau's ranche" near Bordeaux's ranch. The reference to a stage station at Chansau's Ranch is probably in error and most likely refers to Badeau's Ranch. Another source puts the location at Cold Springs Station near present day Torrington. Langford indicates that Slade had advance dispensation from military authorities at Fort Laramie. Dimsdale (1831-1866) was the first Montana Territorial Superintendent of Public Instruction. Langford (1832-1911) was the first Yellowstone National Park Superintendent.

http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/ghost4.html

-- Here, travelers stopped and ate their meals, stagecoach drivers changed horses, and telegraph messages could be sent to New York or California.

For a time, the infamous Jack Slade served as stationmaster. Known for his violent temper that resulted in the deaths of several men, he gained a reputation that even Mark Twain said made him nervous. Slade did not stay at Point of Rocks long. Traveling north, he would eventually meet his end at the hands of a lynch mob in the Montana gold fields.

Indians, traders, railroad men and Cavalry officers all passed through Point of Rocks. The Frontier Index, the only local paper in 1868, reported the presence of Indians at Point of Rocks in 1868.

A few years earlier, a pitched battle had taken place roughly 40 miles east of the stage station. One account held that this same group of Indians threatened, but never attacked, the inhabitants of the Point of Rocks Stage Station.

Rich in folklore and historical tradition, the Point of Rocks Stage Station will round out a trail enthusiast’s visit to Sweetwater County. The sandstone construction and building techniques used to erect this structure are similar to those used along the Overland Stage line.

Another Wyoming State Historic Site is located in Granger, Wyoming. The Granger Station, like the Point of Rocks station, was a respite for travelers and stage crew. The site contains one building constructed of cut native stone joined with lime-sand mortar. There has been some controversy and confusion over the date of the construction of this building. It is believed to have been constructed around 1861-62.

Getting There A visit to both the Point of Rocks and the Carter’s Compound stage station at Fort Bridger is easily accomplished in one day’s travel without ever going more than seven miles round trip off I-80.

http://www.tourwyoming.com/discover-sweetwater/towns-and-maps/point-of-rocks.html

- Description: As the South Pass route for overland migration became increasingly dangerous, Ben Holladay established new roads in the Laramie Plains and the Red Desert which avoided areas of conflict. He ran his famous stage lines on these roads from 1862-1869 and built a series of water and way stations along the route. Ruins and markers on public land can be found for the Bridger Pass Station, the Dug Springs Stage Station, the Fort LaCledge station, Black Buttes Stage Station, Point of Rocks Stage Station (restored), Rock Springs Stage Station, and Green River Stage Station. The Point of Rocks Stage Station is on I-80, and has minimal visitor facilities.

Location: In southern Wyoming, from east of the North Platte River to the Granger Stage Station, just north of Fort Bridger.

Address: Bureau of Land Management 5252 Yellowstone Cheyenne, WY 82003		Phone: 307-775-6256

Season: year round Fee: no

Reservations: no

http://www.publiclands.org/explore/site.php?id=1748

--- (From the NATIONAL REGISTER  OF  HISTORIC  PLACES INVENTORY  - NOMINATION  FORM

http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/70000679.pdf

Point of Rocks  Stage  Station was  originally built of native  sandstone taken from the  surrounding hills. Mud mortar chinked the walls. Since the station was  burned  out  on  at  least  one  occasion,  it  is  difficult  to determine  the  construction of  the  original  roof but  it  was  likely wooden poles covered with  sod. Some of  the  original  beams  burned  in  raids  have been replaced with telegraph poles. Presently the structure  consists  of the  original  stone walls,  still  relatively  intact,  and various modifi- cations and attachments  constructed  of wood and metal. The roof  and  the later modifications readily appear  inconsistent with  the  structures historical character. The site  of Point  of Rocks  is  located  in  a  valley of  the  Bitter Creek^ an alkaline  stream that  runs  a  few  feet  north of  the  station. Rising south of the  station  a  high perpendicular  formation with  large  outcroppings of sandstone  gives  the  site  a  very picturesque  setting. Presently the terrain surrounding  the  site  is  heavily covered with dense  sagebrush. A county dirt  road  leading  off  Interstate  80 provides  access  to  the  site. - The  Point  of  Rocks  Stage  Station has  at  various  times  served  as  a  stage stop, a  freight  station,  a  store,  a  school,  a  ranch headquarters  and a home. In some  references  the  Station  is  also known as  "Rock Point" or "Almond"  station. Point of Rock's  principal  significance  is  as  a stop  on  the  Overland  Stage Line  during  the  1860's  and  as  the  junction of the  Overland Trail  and  the Union Pacific Railroad  in  1868. For a number of  years  the  Station was  the  starting  terminal  for  the  stage  and freight operations  running north  to  South Pass  City and  the  Sweetwater mines. By virtue of its  strategic  location  the  Point  of Rocks  Station is now indirectly related  to  a  third  phase of  transcontinental  trans- portation, that  of  automobile travel  along U.S.  Highway Interstate  80. There is  no  recorded history available concerning Point  of Rocks prior to the  arrival  of the  Overland  Stage Line  in  1862. However, the  flowing springs located near the  station  site no  doubt prompted wandering  Indian bands and  trappers  to  camp  in  the  vicinity  for years  prior  to  its  use by the  stages. At the beginning of  the  Civil War  the  Federal  government  allowed military strength in  the West  to  decline  to  such  an  extent  that  trans- portation routes and  communications were  in  constant  jeopardy of Indian raids. Along the  Oregon-California route  the  Indian depredations increased to  a point  that  stages  carrying  the  United  States  mails  could not be  taken through  the  disputed territory. Ben Holladay, proprietor of the Overland  Stage Line  carrying  the mails,  appealed  to  the  govern- ment for help. The decision was made to  move  the hardest hit  section of the  route  south  in  an  attempt  to  avoid  further  disruptions. Point of Rocks was chosen  as  the  location  for  one  of  the new stations. The date of construction was  late  1861  or  early  1862. Fourteen miles to the  east  of Point  of Rocks  was  the  Black Buttes  station and  fourteen miles on west was  Salt  Wells  station. The station was  1,009 miles west of Atchison,  Kansas  and  904 miles  from Placerville,  California, the two  terminals  of  the  Overland  Stage operation. From 1862 to  1868  Point  of  Rocks  station  served  the  Overland  Stage  and the Wells, Fargo  and  Company operation when  the  latter purchased  the business from Ben Holladay. Specific references  to  events  that  occurred around Point of  Rocks  are  scarce but  the  entire vicinity was  the  scene of considerable Indian hostilities  during  the  Civil  War years. The station was burned  out  at  least  once. According to  one account  thef|iii|||iiil$i:i^ , Annals  of  Wyoming,  Volume  33, Archives and  Historical  Depar , Annals  of  Wyoming, Volume  40, State Archives  and  Historical , Manuscript  files,  Wyoming  Rec Number 2  (Cheyenne:  Wyoming  State tment,  October,  1961)  pp.212,  213. Number 1. (Cheyenne: Wyoming Department,  April,  1968)  pp. 108-110. reation Commission.

--- LATITUDE Degrees Minutes  Seconds 41 °  40  '  30  " LONGITUDE , Degrees  Minutes 108  °  ;47;V^ Seconds 30  "

http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/70000679.pdf -- Long Description: This wonderfully preserved stagecoach station is located just off of I-80 at Point of Rocks, Wyoming. A town consisting of little more than a gas station, a convenience store, and about 10 people.

The station and the barn nearby was 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.

It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a Wyoming State Historic Site. I don't know the date of the photo, but from the writing and photo quality, it looks to be early 1900's. It had to be pretty early because the roof caved in in the 30's and was that way for decades until the building's recent renovation.

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM1WAN_Overland_Stage_Station_Point_of_Rocks_Wyoming

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