Last updated: June 18, 2026
Place
Boyd Station
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Location:
Boyd Station/Butte Station is 14 trail miles (8 miles as the crow flies) west of Fish Springs Station via Pony Express Rd. Interpretive turnout GPS 39.843583 -113.553285
Significance:
Boyd Station, also known as Butte Station and Half-way House, was a Pony Express station with unusual architecture that included defensive gunports. It is one of the best-preserved express stations in Utah.
Designation:
Historic site on the Pony Express National Historic Trail.
MANAGED BY:
Amenities
2 listed
Parking - Auto, Scenic View/Photo Spot
Some researchers report that George Washington “Bid” Boyd established Boyd
Station,also known as Butte Station and Half-way house, along a mail route across Utah’s West Desert around 1855. Pony Express rider Howard R. Egan, though, noted that Boyd Station did not yet exist when he rode past the site in 1860.
The station building was designed with gunports for protection from Native American
warriors, who had regularly attacked mail packtrains on the route between Salt Lake City and Carson City since the early 1850s. In 1860, the small stone building became a Pony Express relay station, where riders exchanged horses.
After the Pony Express galloped into the sunset in 1861, Boyd is said to have continued living at the remote station, enjoying his solitude, until around 1900. His presence probably accounts for the fact that the station was not dismantled and hauled away stone by stone for other uses. Today’s visitors can explore the original ruins of the old station at its original location, with a Bureau of Land Management interpretive kiosk nearby. Traces of the original trail are clear on the ground there and on satellite imagery, heading northwest toward the next station at Willow Springs (present-day Callao).
Continuing westbound along the Pony Express National Historic Trail Backcountry Byway, drive 14 miles along Pony Express Rd from Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge. Where Granite Ranch Rd splits off to the left, keep right. The site is on the right (north) side of the road.
Site Information
Location (Boyd Station/Butte Station is 14 trail miles (8 miles as the crow flies) west of Fish Springs Station via Pony Express Rd. Interpretive turnout GPS 39.843583 -113.553285)