Last updated: June 11, 2026
Place
Woodford's Station
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Location:
290 Old Pony Express Rd., Woodfords, California.
Significance:
Travelers on the Carson Route of the California Trail passed through the little settlement later named Woodfords, where they could find a hotel (1849) and a trading post (1854). Woodford’s Pony Express station, where riders quickly changed horses and continued with the mail, operated at this site April 3-29, 1860.
Designation:
California Historic Landmark No. 805, Pony Express Remount Station (Woodford Station) Alpine Co.; Historic site on the California and Pony Express NHTs.
MANAGED BY:
Private, with monuments on public right of way.
Amenities
8 listed
Benches/Seating, Cellular Signal, Food/Drink - Restaurant/Table Service, Food/Drink - Snacks, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Parking - Auto, Parking - Bus/RV, Wheelchair Accessible
Daniel Woodford opened a hotel with a humorous name, “The Sign of the Elephant,” on the Carson Route of the California Trail in 1849. The name comes from a popular 19th century expression, “seeing the elephant,” meaning a sight or experience that seemed unusual, exciting, or in some cases, frightening. If overlanders had not seen the elephant by the time they reached this establishment on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, they were certain to spot it on the rugged wagon trail through the mountains ahead.
The hotel became the heart of a small community—the oldest non-native settlement in the region and an important emigration waypoint between Genoa, NV, and Placerville, CA—that eventually took on Woodford’s name. The Sign of the Elephant burned down long ago, but a store that opened nearby in 1854 is occupied today as a private home known as Wade House.
In April 1860, with the opening of the Pony Express mail relay, Pony riders followed the Carson Route through Woodfords because a more direct route over Johnson Pass was blocked by snow. For five weeks, April 3 through April 29, Pony riders stopped at Woodfords to change horses. In May, after warming weather reduced the snow load, the mail riders began spurring their horses west up Kingsbury Grade and over Daggett Pass to Lake Tahoe. The new route shortened the ride by many miles and eliminated three stops to change horses.
To visit, drive CA-88 south from Centerville, Nevada, into California and continue for 6 miles. Turn right onto Old Pony Express Rd, a frontage road that overlies the original trail and parallels CA-88. Wade House, a small private home currently painted green, is on the right side of Old Pony Express Rd shortly after the turn. Drive past the store and park in the small turnout just beyond the outdoor dining area. A stone monument among the trees commemorates Woodfords’ role in California history, and another across the road honors Woodford’s Pony Express Station. The historical station site lies southwest of the monument at the junction of Old Pony Express Rd with CA-88, though nothing remains of the building. Continue along Old Pony Express Rd to a stone wall on the right, where there is a monument for “The Sign of the Elephant.” The hotel burned down, was rebuilt, and burned again. Today a community church occupies the site.
Site Information
Location (290 Old Pony Express Rd., Woodfords, California.)