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Stonehouse East Of Scellbourne


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Sorry, I have one more post on the area.

 

There is a Stonehouse on the Lincoln Hwy at 39 46,839 N 114 32.427 that must have been a landmark.

 

Stonehouse1-1.jpg

 

The woodpeckers liked the wood here:

 

Stonehouse2-1.jpg

 

This stop sign is coming from the east just before Stonehouse and must have been here since way back then:

 

Did you miss it, Denny? It is in the little triangle of roads hidden by sagebrush, you only see it coming the other way.

 

Stonehouse3-1.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy, Dale

Edited by DaleS
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Aha! I actually remember seeing that and I even have a picture -- sort of. It's an over the shoulder drive-by here.

 

I'm rather embarrassed by how few pictures I have of the Nevada portion of my recent Dugway drive. This is partly because of the road being in worse shape and requiring more attention than in Utah and partly because I was frankly getting a bit tired of driving dirt roads. Maybe not so much tired of them as tired by them. Of course my embarrassment is multiplied by Dale's splendid reporting of things that I just whizzed (relatively speaking) by.

 

The stop sign I missed because I whizzed by the back side of it. I actually started down the road leading to it -- it starts at the blind curve indicated by the bullet riddled sign here -- but determined that was not the original LH and returned to follow the left hand path. It soon turns north (right) to pass the house and stop sign. DeLorme identifies this as Bews Ranch and the LH Driving CD adds a note that it is the Spring Valley Pony Express Station just south of the house.

 

KtSotR: I believe the parked white van I mentioned in another thread was just before the blind curve.

 

Dale: Thanks for posting this and allowing me to regain a modicum of respect after missing all that other stuff.

 

Everyone: Take heed of the perforated signs. Wearing yellow and standing still for more than a minute could get you shot out here. And it doesn't have to be particularly bright yellow.

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Kind of know what you mean by them. They are too wide and smooth for sliding around the corners and not an old road.

 

Were you traveling west? Kind of sounds like it, then you would have seen the faded stop sign just before Stonehouse.

 

I'm not tired of the dirt roads yet, as you see I am just a "Day Tripper" here.

 

Dale

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Overall, I'm not really tired of dirt roads either but I believe I was at that point on that day. I'd started in SLC and was probably just tired in general and not as attentive of roadside goodies as I should be. I may have passed the sign and not seen it or may have even stopped at it and not remember. I was guessing that the sign is on CR-34 where it ends at CR-31. I've attached a map clip that should help. The stone house is somewhere around the red SH at the upper left. At the intersection there, CR-34 is green and CR-31 is blue. Blue indicates "an original 1913-1915 Lincoln Highway alignment". Green indicates "an intermediate Lincoln Highway re-alignment or detour". The black line with dots on it is my GPS track. I was attempting to drive the blue line but missed a couple of sections just in this small area. The missed blue line at the right is the end of the eight mile section you drove and documented in another thread. I also missed about a mile and three quarters at the lower left and instead drove something that apparently never was Lincoln Highway. From there I drove almost due north past the stone house. Depending on where the stop sign is I may have not noticed it, not remembered it, or driven past its back side.

 

As I'm sure you know, that "Day Tripper" tag is based solely on post count. If it was based on post quality, you'd have passed it long ago.

sh1.jpg

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Sorry, I have one more post on the area.

 

There is a Stonehouse on the Lincoln Hwy at 39 46,839 N 114 32.427 that must have been a landmark.

 

 

Dale,

 

I have been enjoying your posts and reminiscing a little. Did you go inside Stone House? There is a big fireplace against one wall that brings back images of the Cartright place in Bonanza.

 

As you look toward Stone House, off to the left and behind is a fallen wooden structure which has a Pony Express connection. It has been too many years but I connect maybe a station keeper getting shot with arrows there. I guess I will have to pull out my Pony Express books.

 

I sort of credit Stone House with my interest in the Lincoln Highway. It was definitely a landmark. Looking at my old maps perhaps 10-15 years ago, I somehow noted "Stone House" on a dirt road in eastern Nevada. This was long before Google Earth, and I started researching the location the old fashioned way. To make a long story short, I decided to visit the place, and "discovered" the Lincoln Highway in the process.

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

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I see where you missed the stop sign, you should have turned right at the blind curve, the stop sign is where

that road meets at Stonehouse.

 

Here is a picture of Stonehouse,from Google Earth. In the little triangle the stop sign faces east in the brush.

 

StonehouseTriangle.png

 

Dale

Edited by DaleS
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...I decided to visit the place, and "discovered" the Lincoln Highway in the process.

I know this is getting way off topic but that comment about the stone house leading you to the Lincoln Highway was so reminiscent of another roadside story that I'm going to veer away with abandon.

 

Part of the similarity is that both stories involve an aged roadside "attraction" that made a big impression on two serious roadies while I barely noticed it or didn't notice it at all. The other "attraction" is the stone Frederick Turnpike "10 M To B" marker in Ellicott City, Maryland. It seems that I didn't even see the marker when I passed through there in 2006 even though I stopped and walked the streets for awhile. When I learned that two well known road scholars (who earned the title the old fashioned way) credited it with igniting their interest in old roads, I studied pictures I'd taken during my visit and found the marker was actually visible in a couple. I hadn't even noticed the mile marker that Frank X. Brusca and William Least Heat-Moon both credit with getting them started down blue highways.

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Dave,

 

No I didn't go inside the Stonehouse, darn it now.

 

I think the Pony Express went north of there?, over Rock Springs Pass.

 

Dale

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Dave,

 

No I didn't go inside the Stonehouse, darn it now.

 

I think the Pony Express went north of there?, over Rock Springs Pass.

 

Dale

 

Dale,

 

 

You are certainly correct.

 

However, the National Park Service (quote below) locates a Pony Express station in Spring Valley, and some authorities place it behind the stone house (see below). Spring Valley is the area where Stone House is located. Wilson is the fellow I recall being shot with arrows, but I have misplaced my copy of the book that is the basis of the arrows part. It is the citation [79] below (Nevada, Bureau of Land Management, The Pony Express in Nevada (Harrah's, 1979)).

 

Some other authorities say there was not a station there, so I admit that the National Park “authority” is a bit shaky, but at least I am not losing my memory......yet.

 

 

126. SPRING VALLEY STATION

Though Spring Valley Station was not listed on the 1861 mail contract as a station, and its exact location remains unknown, sources generally agree on its identity as a Pony Express station. [76] This station did not exist when Richard Burton traveled through the area on October 5, 1860, however, the Pony Express did stop at a site somewhere in the valley. [77] Constant Dubail or a man named Reynal possibly served as stationkeepers at Spring Valley. [78] When Pony Express rider Elijah N. "Uncle Nick" Wilson stopped at the station for something to eat, he found two young boys managing operations. While Wilson was there, several Indians stole the station's horses. Wilson reportedly was killed when he tried to stop them. [79]

The Overland Mail Company line maintained a station in Spring Valley until 1869, which also possibly served as a Pony Express stop after July 1861. The Overland station stood on property owned by Reed Robinson in 1976. Foundations exist near a turn-of-the century stone house on the property. [80] Townley locates the Overland station site within the corrals, southwest of the stone house. [81] Another theory suggests that the station stood on the present Henroid Ranch, an area that provided a shorter route to Antelope Springs Station through the Antelope Mountains. [82]

 

If anyone wants to see the supposed station, click here:

 

Stone House Pony Express

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

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Dave,

 

I don't how correct my Benchmark book is. The currant BLM Pony Express signs show the Trail going north going east off Schellbourne Road.

 

PonyExpress3.jpg

 

Here is a scan off my Benchmark Atlas showing the Spring Valley Station near the intersection of Schellbourne Rd & Spring Valley Road. I rode my motorcycle from Spring Valley Station to Antelope Springs Station following the BLM PE signs.

 

 

 

PonyExpress10.jpg

 

Who knows, you have better info than I do. Sorry about the marks on the map book. My way of finding things.

 

Dale

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Dave,

 

I don't how correct my Benchmark book is. The currant BLM Pony Express signs show the Trail going north going east off Schellbourne Road.

 

 

 

I'm now convinced the preponderance of the evidence favors placing the Spring Valley Station north of Stone House, as you suggest. And it may be that the actual site has been located , as would be inferred by the Benchmark dot. In any event, it is great fun, and you are doing it up in grand style! Thanks for sharing!

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

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