Last updated: July 14, 2026
Place
Church Butte Wyoming
Photo/L. Kreutzer
Quick Facts
Location:
Church Butte is 10 miles southwest of Granger, WY. To reach it, take I-80 Exit 53 and turn north on Church Butte Rd. Drive approximately 5.5 miles to County Rd 233. Church Butte is on the right (east). GPS 41.505334 -110.135812
Significance:
Church Butte was a landmark on the Fort Bridger Route of the combined California, Mormon Pioneer, and Pony Express trail heading toward Salt Lake City. Brigham Young’s vanguard company camped nearby on July 6, 1847, other travelers rested and camped in the vicinity through the years, and a Pony Express and Overland Stage station operated about 1.5 miles to the southwest.
Designation:
Historic site on the California, Mormon Pioneer, Oregon, and Pony Express NHTs.
MANAGED BY:
Amenities
1 listed
Scenic View/Photo Spot
Church Butte is an imposing formation of sandstone and colorful banded clays, 100 feet high and nearly ¼ mile long, that stands in isolated majesty on a barren plain. Emigrants on the trail to Fort Bridger imagined its eroded features resembled a variety of people, creatures, and structures. Oregon-bound John Boardman, passing by on Aug. 12, 1843, called it “Solomon’s Temple,” writing in his journal that the great formation was “decorated with all kinds of images; gods and goddesses, everything that has ever been the subject of the sculptor; all kinds of animals and creeping things, and everything that art has manufactured or brought into notice.” It was, he concluded, a “magnificent and striking sight.” Emigrants generally accepted the name “Church Butte” by the 1850s.
Sir Richard Burton, traveling by stagecoach in 1860, thought the butte’s folds and channels “perfectly simulate[d] the pillars, groins, and massive buttresses of a ruinous Gothic cathedral.” He suggested, “An architect of genius might profitably study this work of nature.” A Pony Express relay station, where riders changed horses, operated about a mile to the southwest in 1860-1861. No wayside exhibits or historical signs are located at this site.
Site Information
Location (Church Butte is 10 miles southwest of Granger, WY. To reach it, take I-80 Exit 53 and turn north on Church Butte Rd. Drive approximately 5.5 miles to County Rd 233. Church Butte is on the right (east). GPS 41.505334 -110.135812)