During the 1850s and 1860s, Horseshoe Creek Station served wagon freighters who fed and watered mules and oxen, exchanged tired stagecoach horses for fresh ones, and carried out other tasks, while a nearly endless stream of emigrants from the eastern United States and around the world stopped there. Leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints recognized the need for dependable mail and passenger service between the east and the Salt Lake Valley, and the Church-operated Brigham Young Express and Carrying Company constructed the station complex in 1856, beginning a new community. In 1857, as tensions between the U.S. government and the Church led to a U.S. military expedition to replace Utah Territorial Governor Brigham Young, the site fell victim to the violence and was set ablaze, though accounts vary. In August 1857, BYX disbanded its stations between Fort Laramie and Salt Lake City. The station complex was later rebuilt, and other operators, including the short-lived Pony Express, used it for several years. In December 1866, John "Portugee" Phillips stopped there during his legendary 235-mile ride through a blizzard from Fort Phil Kearny to Fort Laramie to telegraph the military that troops were surrounded by hostile Sioux and Cheyenne warriors and needed assistance.