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Cape Horn In Nevada


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Sixteen and a half miles east of Austin, Nevada is Cape Horn. Not much to look at:

Taken at 39 23.268 116 50.869

 

CapeHorn.jpg

Showing the present and a past road cut at Cape Horn.

 

 

To the North about 1/2 miles is where the Overland Stage Route crossed Cape Horn. There is about a mile of

the original trail left. It starts off Hwy 50 at 39 23.391 116 50.584

Google Earth shows about 3 miles of the trail going northwest of the station, but I

couldn't find it on my dirt bike. There were sand washes on either end of it.

 

Overland4.jpg

 

On the west side of Cape Horn about a mile north of the present Hwy 50 is where the Cape Horn

Stage Station was. All I could find was this pile of rocks that may have been part of the stage

station. 39 24.009 116 51.283

 

Overland3.jpg

 

Now the oldest route is the Pony Express Trail. It is about 5 to 10 miles north of Hwy 50.

This sign is at 39 29.493 116 52.400

 

PonyExpress3.jpg

 

Standing in front of the sign, to the right is east. 50' to the right this picture was taken, the trail is

this cow path.

 

PonyExpress4.jpg

 

Farther to the east this picture was taken

 

PonyExpress5.jpg

 

About 5 miles from the sign the trail looked like this,

 

PonyExpress6.jpg

 

Not long after that I lost the trail at 39 30.949 116 48.216

 

Dale

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Thanks for both of you liking my pictures, I used a little cheap camera that I ride with, not my good camera.

Photoshop helped.

 

Dave, I had a cheesburger at the International Cafe for you yesterday.

 

This morning I took a ride on the Pony Express Trail west of the sign.

 

 

PET003.jpg

 

After a few miles the trail closed in:

 

PET004.jpg

 

No long after that there was a creek crossing that didn't want to try being by myself.

 

Dale

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Wonderful stuff! I was on some of the Pony Express route myself a couple of weeks ago but nothing like that.

 

Dave: Any luck with Burton? I took a look but it seems he mentions no station between Simpson Park (which I'm guessing is somewhere around Eureka) and Reese River Valley (which is a bit west of Austin). Since that's a distance of 50 miles or more I'm thinking there must have been another station but I didn't see a mention of it.

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Wonderful stuff! I was on some of the Pony Express route myself a couple of weeks ago but nothing like that.

 

Dave: Any luck with Burton? I took a look but it seems he mentions no station between Simpson Park (which I'm guessing is somewhere around Eureka) and Reese River Valley (which is a bit west of Austin). Since that's a distance of 50 miles or more I'm thinking there must have been another station but I didn't see a mention of it.

 

Denny,

 

I came to the same conclusion. I didn't check the miles, but 50 miles would certainly require at least two changes of horses, more likely three. My limited knowledge suggests 12 - 15 miles per team, probably less. Cape Horn would have been a swing station. Had Burton noted every swing station, the book would have been twice as long! :lol:

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

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Simpson Park is the the west of the last picture I took with all the brush. It is 6 miles Northeast by east from

Austin. Just over the mountain east of Austin on Hwy 50 and north in the next valley.

 

http://www.xphomestation.com/nvsta-simpsonpark.html

 

I read yesterday that the Overland Stage used a Pony Express station at Reese River

until Austin beacame a town in the early to mid 1860's. Then the station was moved to the International Hotel.

 

Some other reading about the Overland Stage Route.

 

http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20100821/NEWS/100829971

 

While in Austin today (having a cheesburger) I took this picture of the International Bar. Notice the blue sign that says

"Hippies Use Back Door".

 

Austin002.jpg

 

I would like to share a couple other of my photos.

 

(off topic) A pair of Avocets, the one with the curved bill is the female

 

 

Avocet123_edited-1.jpg

 

 

An Osprey

 

OspreyFish-2.jpg

 

Thanks for looking, Dale

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Denny wrote:

 

DennyG, on 08 July 2011 - 06:33 AM, said:

 

Wonderful stuff! I was on some of the Pony Express route myself a couple of weeks ago but nothing like that.

 

Dave: Any luck with Burton? I took a look but it seems he mentions no station between Simpson Park (which I'm guessing is somewhere around Eureka) and Reese River Valley (which is a bit west of Austin). Since that's a distance of 50 miles or more I'm thinking there must have been another station but I didn't see a mention of it.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Going west from Cape Horn Station is the Simpson Park Station, it isn't near Eureka. After going across the flats from Cape Horn station the trail goes

up Simpson Park Canyon. The Simpson Park station is in the next valley, trail then went north of Austin to the Reese River station.

 

Dale

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Going west from Cape Horn Station is the Simpson Park Station, it isn't near Eureka. After going across the flats from Cape Horn station the trail goes

up Simpson Park Canyon. The Simpson Park station is in the next valley, trail then went north of Austin to the Reese River station.

 

Dale

That makes a lot more sense. My guess at placing Simpson Park Station used mileage given by Burton as straight line which it clearly isn't.

 

Great bird pictures. I've heard that one of the biggest causes of death for Osprey is fish. The bird misjudges the size of a fish but its barbed talons won't let it drop the too heavy load and it flounders and drowns. Wonderful picture of the Osprey and its dinner.

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Simpson Park is the the west of the last picture I took with all the brush. It is 6 miles Northeast by east from

Austin. Just over the mountain east of Austin on Hwy 50 and north in the next valley.

 

http://www.xphomestation.com/nvsta-simpsonpark.html

 

I read yesterday that the Overland Stage used a Pony Express station at Reese River

until Austin beacame a town in the early to mid 1860's. Then the station was moved to the International Hotel.

 

Some other reading about the Overland Stage Route.

 

http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20100821/NEWS/100829971

 

While in Austin today (having a cheesburger) I took this picture of the International Bar. Notice the blue sign that says

"Hippies Use Back Door".

 

Austin002.jpg

 

I would like to share a couple other of my photos.

 

(off topic) A pair of Avocets, the one with the curved bill is the female

 

 

Avocet123_edited-1.jpg

 

 

An Osprey

 

OspreyFish-2.jpg

 

Thanks for looking, Dale

 

Dale,

 

Thanks for the photo of the International. It always pleases me that it is still going.

 

As for the bird shots, they are outstanding. I thought you had to work for National geographic to get shots like the one with the osprey and fish. How in the world do you get a photo like that. Is it recent?

 

It seems to me that you would have to wait for hours with a long lens, and be enormously lucky to track the bird in the viewfinder, even if you saw it happening. We have an occasional osprey on the lake where we live, and a couple of bald eagles, but the best I have done in 20 years here is get them perched on a limb.

 

The newspaper story was interesting. The Overland doesn't get the attention it deserves (but maybe that's good or the sites would suffer the fate of the shoe tree). I think Burton's book is one of the best I have ever read because he is reporting so matter of fact about the real experience.

 

I want to thank you again for sharing the photos and the information!!

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

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Those two bird pictures were taken in May of this year at Fish Lake Valley Hot Springs near Dyer, NV. That female? osprey

would come in every other day and get a couple goldfish. I was parked close to pond that the osprey would come to.

When the avocets started flying I knew the osprey would be coming in and I would jump out of the rv, ready to take pictures.

I use a Nikon D7000 that takes seven pictures a second with a 80-400 mm lens.

 

A few more for you:

 

This redtail hawk didn't like me getting close to pole where her almost grown chicks were in June:

 

FortSageHawks6.jpg

 

A mocking bird in a yard I was staying at in May.

 

Mocker2.jpg

 

My wife saw the backs of these Horned Owl chicks at Wilson Cayone south of Yerington, NV and thought

they were monkeys.

 

OwlsGood.jpg

 

I hope you enjoy these pictures.

 

Thanks again Dave for telling how to post pictures.

 

In a week or so I should be north of Ely and finally and send in some reports on Old Lincoln Hwy & Pony Express Trail between

Utah border and Egan Canyon.

 

Dale

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One more thing, most the time I only get one picture out of a hunderd. Sometimes I get lucky.

Not many birds here at Spencers hot springs. Hope to get pictures of Nighthawks flying at Illipah Res. next week.

 

Dale

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Those two bird pictures were taken in May of this year at Fish Lake Valley Hot Springs near Dyer, NV. That female? osprey

would come in every other day and get a couple goldfish. I was parked close to pond that the osprey would come to.

When the avocets started flying I knew the osprey would be coming in and I would jump out of the rv, ready to take pictures.

I use a Nikon D7000 that takes seven pictures a second with a 80-400 mm lens.

 

A few more for you:

 

This redtail hawk didn't like me getting close to pole where her almost grown chicks were in June:

 

FortSageHawks6.jpg

 

A mocking bird in a yard I was staying at in May.

 

Mocker2.jpg

 

My wife saw the backs of these Horned Owl chicks at Wilson Cayone south of Yerington, NV and thought

they were monkeys.

 

OwlsGood.jpg

 

I hope you enjoy these pictures.

 

Thanks again Dave for telling how to post pictures.

 

In a week or so I should be north of Ely and finally and send in some reports on Old Lincoln Hwy & Pony Express Trail between

Utah border and Egan Canyon.

 

Dale

 

Dale,

 

That last photo looks like my in-laws when Sheila said she planned to marry me. :blink::lol: It is a sure prize winner!

 

I was a SLR user in Nikon F days, with a suitcase full of lenses, but I have stayed away from camera bagging it in the digital age. Your photos will cause me to at least scan the camera reviews again!

 

Terrific shots!

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

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I used to have an Nikon F camera and lens also. Digital is so much easier to do now. No film to buy, no waiting for developing, no worring about

light. Get a $100 Photoshop and fix it all. I have taken 500 shots a day sometimes and get a couple. Other times (Osprey) 6 good ones in a second.

 

looking to camping near Schellbourne, NV and check that area out.

 

This is a good site about Pony Express station is Nevada:

 

http://www.xphomestation.com/nvsta.html

 

Dale

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After I broke out the Gregory Franzwa The Lincoln Highway Nevada book to feed another thread, I decided to see if he had anything to say about Cape Horn. He does mention it but doesn't say a lot. He describes the road bending "...around low hills referred to as 'Cape Horn'" and, although I may be reading too much into this, I'm thinking the name may come from a vague (and very dry) resemblance to that better known Cape Horn that waterborne travelers passed on the way west.

 

Franzwa's maps show two Overland Stage routes and two stations. One is almost precisely where you found the pile of rocks. That one he dates as 1862-64 with the route that passes it dated 1860-1863. An 1864-1868 route is shown heading more directly west and paralleling US 50 to the north. A station with the same dates is shown at something around 39 23.530 -116 52.000.

 

If Franzwa's dates are correct, then neither of these stations would have existed when Burton passed through in 1860.

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Thanks Denney, very interesting. Cape horn is a low hill with kind of the shape. The stage route should have changed

some after discovering silver in Austin.

 

Dale

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