… and just a bit beyond.

Part 17 – Fort Bridger to Weber Station is now live … and this chapter ends the story.

The nature of the route changed after Fort Bridger. The stage followed other well-established trails: This was part of the Hastings cut-off on the California Trail, the Donner Party passed this way. The Mormon Trail (1847) came through here, as did Johnston’s army during the Mormon War of 1857/58. The Pony Express passed through here in 1860 as did the Transcontinental Railroad in 1867.

The modern highways bypassed the section between Fort Bridger and the head of Echo Canyon though.

The passage through Echo Canyon had been forced by nature – there wasn’t a feasible alternate route – there still isn’t today.

Weber Station was at the mouth of Echo Canyon, where I-84 splits off from I-80 and heads NW to Ogden while I-80 continues on to Salt Lake City. I add a small section showing the Overland Road beyond Weber Station; it followed what is now I-84 and the Weber River a short distance to Henefer then cut SW along what is now a secondary Utah highway, UT65 through the mountains on its own path to Salt Lake. This was the route of the Donner Party some 15 years before the Overland Stage started operations.

This is the last chapter of my tale …

Coming up next: Nothing. This is it.