The deal was signed this week to protect a historic 123 acres at Daggett Pass, a portion of it containing the Pony Express trail, has been protected by being added to the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

The property was sold by Patricia G. Baker of Carmichael, the widow of John M. Baker, a native of Gardnerville, whose family acquired the parcel in the late 1930s.

On a relatively flat area halfway up the grade, there was an area known as “Peters Station.” It was the site in the 1860s of a booming three-story hotel owned by Elizabeth and Richard Peters. The teamsters, and their heavy horse-drawn rigs, would spend the night, rest the horses, and enjoy dinner and a night’s sleep before the next day’s arduous climb.

The $750,000 to buy the property came from the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act. The law lets money from lands sold by the BLM which were identified for disposal in approved land use plan) be used to acquire private in-holdings in National Parks, National Forests, and BLM conservation areas.

The property will be managed by the Forest Service in coordination with Douglas County, which is turning part of the Old Kingsbury Grade into a segment of the Pony Express National Historic Trail. When that is complete, it will provide hikers, horseback riders, and bicyclists with a route between the Lake Tahoe Basin trail system and destinations in Carson Valley.

The Trust for Public land, a national nonprofit land conservation organization dedicated to preserving land for people to enjoy as parks, open spaces, and gardens, facilitated the purchase.