CASPER, Wyo. — The National Historic Trails Interpretive Center is hosting a series of presentations this coming weekend exploring the Pony Express mailing service and the famous Wagon Box Fight, some of Wyoming’s oldest and most interesting nuggets of history.
“At 1 p.m. Aug. 12, National Pony Express Association members will be at the Trails Center to highlight the history of the Pony Express and re-enact a handoff of the mochila, the iconic leather pouch which secured their mail. The program will take place outside on the Trails Center grounds near the Pony Express cabin and is expected to last 30–45 minutes,” according to a press release by the Bureau of Land Management.
The Trails Center advises residents to arrive early and bring their children on Saturday to take part in the day’s kid-oriented educational feature, “Frontier Medicine,” at 11 a.m. This hands-on program will teach kids about the many medicines pioneers used on their trips across the continent.
On Sunday, Aug. 13, the events continue. Local historian and former Trails Center interpreter Kylie McCormick will return to present “Marking the Wagon Box Fight” at 1 p.m.
One of the Pioneer Era’s most legendary battles happened here in Wyoming, and 156 years later it makes quite a remarkable tale. But it took hard work to even mark exactly where the battle occurred. “Marking the Wagon Box Fight” explores the efforts of historians to accurately designate the battle’s location.
“Under the leadership of Grace Raymond Hebard and H.G. Nickerson, Wyoming’s Oregon Trail Commission expanded its mission to mark historic locations, including the battle sites of Red Cloud’s War,” the BLM said in the release. “Join us Sunday to learn more about this historic battle, testimonies of survivors, and visits that helped to mark its location decades later.”
The Bureau of Land Management included in the release a comprehensive schedule detailing the above information:
Events Schedule
- Aug. 12 at 11 a.m. – Frontier Medicine (Youth Event)
- Learn about the common cures of the mid-1800s with this hands-on “pioneer hospital.”
- Aug. 12 at 1 p.m. – The Pony Express
- Features National Pony Express Association Members.
- Aug. 13 at 1 p.m. – Marking the Wagon Box Fight
- Presented by historian Kylie McCormick.
For more information on upcoming Trails Center events, see the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center’s page on the BLM website. For more information on the Bureau of Land Management, see the agency’s Facebook page.
