Pony Express trail · Station XVI of 12 covered
The Canyon Station attack
In July 1863 the station was attacked and burned, and the men there were killed.
Position Overland Canyon, Juab County, Utah · approximate, no coordinate on record
By 1863 the Pony Express itself had been finished for nearly two years, but the stations continued in service for the Overland Mail. In July of that year Canyon Station was attacked, the buildings were burned and the station keeper and soldiers stationed there were killed.
The replacement station was built out of the canyon, on open ground where nobody could approach unseen. That second site is the one most visitors find, and the shift in position is the clearest piece of evidence on the whole trail about how the situation had changed.
This was one episode in a long and violent contest over the Great Basin, and the people on the other side of it were defending ground they had held for a very long time. The markers out here tell one side. Worth carrying that in mind while reading them.
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.