Salt Wells Station Site

Salt Wells Station Site
Salt Wells Station Location of Salt Wells Station Site in Wyoming Show map of Wyoming Salt Wells Station Salt Wells Station (the United States) Show map of the United States
Location	Salt Wells Road and I-80
Coordinates	41°38′30″N108°59′33″W / 41.6417°N 108.9926°W / 41.6417; -108.9926
Built	1862
Built for	Early pioneers, Overland Stage and Mail

Salt Wells Creek watershed. The Salt Wells Station is at the top center, where the blue and red lines meet

Salt Wells Station Site was a resting spot for early American pioneers in wagon trains heading west on the Overland Trail. The site was in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, west of the town of Point of Rocks. Salt Wells Stage Station and the pioneers selected the site because it has poor water from the nearby Bitter Creek and the Salt Wells Creek. A well was dug, but the water was still salty from the wells. Fresh drinking water had to be wagoned into the station. The site was also used as a route for the Overland Stage and Mail from 1862 to 1869, which ran from Denver to Salt Lake. Travelers to the Salt Well Stage Station arrived from the Point of Rocks Station, fourteen miles away. From the Salt Well Stage Station, the Overland Trail travels west to the next stop, the Rock Springs. ^[1]

With the opening of the Union Pacific Railroad's first transcontinental railroad in 1868, the wagon trains started to end. ^[2]

Salt Wells Herd Management Area

Further information: List of Bureau of Land Management Herd Management Areas

The area south of Salt Wells Station Site is Bureau of Land Management's Salt Wells Herd Management Area. The United States Congress passed the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 to protect and manage wild horses and burros on public lands. The act states that wild horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West. Salt Wells Herd Management Area is one of 16 Herd Management Areas in Wyoming. Wyoming has about 3,725 wild horses and no wild burros. The Salt Wells Herd Management Area was founded in 1997, and has about 251 to 365 wild horses. The I-80 is the north boarder, the U.S. Route 191 is the west boarder, the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest is the southern boarder and Wyoming Highway 789/Adobe Town Area is roughly the east border of the Salt Wells Herd Management Area. ^{[3] [4]}

See also

• Wyoming historical monuments and markers

References

1. "The Overland Trail in Wyoming | WyoHistory.org". www.wyohistory.org.
2. "The Union Pacific Transcontinental Railroad: Pursuing What's Possible and Making it Happen". Union Pacific.
3. Salt Wells Herd Management Area, BLM
4. Habitat selection and space use overlap between feral horses, pronghorn, and greater sage‐grouse in cold arid steppe, uwyo.edu