American Tales and Trails Places worth the detour
Desert country along the Pony Express route near Willow Springs Station, Utah

Pony Express trail · Station XIII of 12 covered

Willow Springs Station

The station that became a town, and one of the last inhabited places on the route.

Position 39.8978, -113.7086 · Callao, Juab and Tooele counties, Utah

Willow Springs is now Callao, a community in northern Snake Valley on the Juab and Tooele county line. A handful of families still live here, which after sixty miles of empty desert feels like arriving somewhere significant.

The station stood among the springs that give the place its water, and the town grew around the same reason. It is the only settlement of any kind between Simpson Springs and the Nevada line.

Callao is not a service centre. There is no shop, no fuel and no expectation that visitors will need anything. Treat it as somewhere people live rather than a stop on a tour.

This is remote, unpaved country with no fuel, no water and thin phone coverage for a hundred miles. Carry more water than you think you need, tell somebody your route, and do not attempt the crossing in a low car after rain. The BLM manages most of the road; call the Salt Lake Field Office for current conditions rather than trusting any page, including this one.


All stations in order