Come to Marshall County to explore Pony Express country and see swales made by wagons on the Oregon Trail. Visit Alcove Spring, named in 1846 by members of the Donner party, who later met with disaster in the Sierra Nevadas. Tour the Pony Express barn in Marysville, the first home station west of St. Joseph, and see a replica of the rope ferry used by emigrants and gold-seekers heading west across the Big Blue River in the 1850's. Today Marshall County remains a transportation hub, crossed by two federal highways and the Union Pacific Railroad. Its mile-long trains, limestone buildings, rural churches, old barns, and smalltown cafes and gift shops make it worth a visit.