A few miles below Marysville, the famous Oregon Trail ford known as the Independence, Mormon, or California crossing carried thousands of covered wagons as settlers bound for Oregon, Mormons for Utah, and gold seekers for California crossed the Big Blue River. In 1849 Frank J. Marshall established a ferry and trading post at the ford despite constant danger from Indians. Two years later, the military road between Forts Leavenworth and Kearny crossed the river at the site of present Marysville, one mile west, and Marshall built another ferry that for years handled immense traffic. He gave the name of his wife, Mary, to the town that developed there and his own name to Marshall County, of which Marysville is the county seat. In 1860 Marysville became a station on the Pony Express, and for most of the 1860s it was an important stopping place for coaches of the Overland Stage Line.