This has been a vital communications corridor since the Pony Express days of 1860-61. Here a modern Re-Rider and her horse pass along the cleared path of the replacement: a buried fiber optic cable carrying Internet, telephone and TV signals. A marker post is in the foreground.

The Lincoln Highway and Loneliest Road also share this alignment. It's possible fewer people live in the region now than in 1860 when the Pony Express and stagecoach lines operated relay stations.