This is the second in a series of caches to highlight the
Pony Express route through El Dorado County.
The Pony Express ran through El Dorado County
approximately where Highway 50 is today, from April 3, 1860 to
October 26, 1861. It was no longer needed when the transcontinental
telegraph system was completed on October 24, 1861.
The entire trip of the Pony Express would be completed in
10 days cutting the time of mail and news delivery to the west
coast by more than half. No wonder for all the excitement that it
generated at the time!
The Pony Express Trail from St. Joseph, Missouri, to
Sacramento, California, was 1840 miles in length. Upon arrival in
Sacramento, the mail was placed on a steamer and continued down the
Sacramento River to San Francisco for a total of 1966 miles. The
Pony Express Trail went through the present states of Missouri,
Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and
California.
DUROC STATION
L.C. Bishop and Paul Henderson, as well as the mail
contract of 1861, identify Duroc as a Pony Express station between
Placerville and Folsom, this added station was only in operation
from July 1 1861 to Nov. 20 1861. [153]
The location and additional information regarding this station are
not available.
The following information is from a
1999 article written by Doug Noble and published in the Mt.
Democrat
The DuRoc House.
The earliest recorded owners of this inn that stood at the
top of a hill on the south side of the old
Carson-Emigrant Road were Lewis and Sarah Ann Holdridge. They owned
it in 1857 and 1858, and sold "the DuRoc house and ranch" to E. S.
and Maria Hanshett. Later Theron and Mary Foster - Foster at one
time being a member of the California Assembly, acquired it. On
Nov. 20, 1860, Frederick Gustavus Crawford, a teamster who was a
frequent visitor to the DuRoc House, married Theron and Mary's
daughter, Mary Lanette Foster. In 1867 he joined Theron in
operating the inn, while continuing to work as a teamster for one
more year.
On June 19, 1857, a post office was established at a
location known as El Dorado Ranch with Lyman A. Hoyt as the
postmaster. The name for the post office had been originally
proposed to be Deer Creek, but the Post office Department selected
El Dorado Ranch instead. On Sept. 14, 1858, the department changed
the name of the post office to Duroc and appointed Theron Foster as
postmaster. The post office would be discontinued on Nov. 23, 1864.
The name Durock a phonetic spelling of DuRoc, remains on a portion
of the original Carson-Emigrant Road, which became Highway 50
before the present freeway was built.
153 L. C. Bishop and Paul Henderson,
"Map of California-Oregon-Mormon Emigrant Roads Featuring the Pony
Express 1860-1861," 1959; and U.S. Congress. Senate. Contract with
Overland Mail Company