These percussion caps were recovered from the 1991 Kansas Archeology Training Program field school at the Hollenberg Pony Express Station in Washington County. These caps were used for powder ignition in a cap and ball pistol. By the 1860s and 1870s advances in cartridge design made percussion caps obsolete. The site was the location of a Pony Express station, a stop on the Oregon-California trail, a post office, a blacksmith shop, and a farm with barns and other outbuildings. The site was purchased by the Kansas Legislature in 1941 and is in the National Register of Historic Places.
Kansas Memory
Kansas Historical Society
Percussion Caps from the Hollenberg Pony Express Station, 14WH316 - 2