Simpson Springs facts for kids
Simpson Springs is a spring, former Pony Express station, former Civilian Conservation Corps camp, and campground in southeast Tooele County, Utah, United States.
Description
The springs are located about 13 miles (21 km) south of Dugway and about 19 miles (31 km) west of the town Vernon, on the southeastern corner of the Dugway Proving Ground. The site lies on the Simpson Springs Road portion of the historic Pony Express Trail and is situated Simpson Springs lies at an elevation of about 5,100 feet (1,600 m) on a bajada of the northwest flank of the Simpson Mountains, on the eastern edge of Dugway Valley, and has long been a water source on the trail west from Salt Lake City across the desert regions. (The Simpson Buttes lie a few miles to the west within the Dugway Proving Ground.) The Bureau of Land Management maintains a campground in the area.
History
The site was undoubtedly used by Native Americans and possibly the Fremont Indian cultures due to its good water supply. The old river bed several miles west has provided evidence of indigenous activity.
The springs were first called Egan Spring for explorer Howard Egan, but renamed Simpson Springs for Captain James H. Simpson following his work to establish a military mail route to California in 1858.
Simpson Springs was established as an Overland Mail station by George Chorpenning for mule train connection between Salt Lake City and Sacramento. It later became an important Pony Express, Overland Stage, and later, Wells Fargo stations on the trail through Utah desert. The station was discontinued after completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. It continued to be used for local freight between Fairfield and Ibapah into the 1890s.
The location was used as a Civilian Conservation Corps camp in the late 1930s and early 1940s. In January 1942, the U.S. military established Dugway Proving Ground in the area, which was occupied by military personnel through World War II. The existing building on the site was built by the Future Farmers of America as a replica in 1975.
