Washburn's Station

The precious metal strikes at Hamilton were ephemeral even by the standards of mining rushes in the Old West, and by the late 1860s, hopeful miners were already decamping for the next big strike. For many that was the newly booming—and, as it would prove, longer-lived—town of Pioche (pronounced pee-OASH), more than 100 miles to the southeast.

The Hamilton/Pioche Stage and Freight Road had sprung up to carry the traffic, and ca. 1869, there were around six stages each day. At the stations, such as this one, the stage would swap horses, and both the driver and passengers would get a meal.

Washburn's Station was never imposing. The "buildings" consisted of unmortared rock walls, some of which were built into natural outcrops. Archeological investigations and contemporary accounts indicate the walls were never much taller than what's left now. The upper two-thirds or so of the "wall" was canvas, so the structures were essentially tents braced by piled-up rocks at the base.

The modern road (US Forest Service 402/Co. Road 10/Ellison Creek Road) is thought to closely follow the original stage route. Remarkably, the old stage road still largely exists to Hamilton, some 23 miles to the north, although it is hardly a major route at this point. So, by the time passengers arrived at Washburn's Station, they were less than a quarter of the way into their journey--but were no doubt already thoroughly sick of stagecoach travel.