Desert/Hooten Wells Station (N39 16 18.4 W119 02 17.6) 

Rock ruins (including the Strong house and parts of the stone corral wall) remain 12 east of US 95 alternate at a point 2 miles south of Buckland’s Station. Hooten Wells was probably used by the Pony Express for its last few months and later during freight and staging efforts. The site of Desert Station is located near Hooten Wells on the Rafter D Ranch. This station site was not used since August 1861, when the route was moved further to the north.  http://www.expeditionutah.com/featured-trails/pony-express-trail/nevada-pony-express-stations/ 

It was in August of 1861 when Twain traveled this route so he may or may not have come through this station. He makes no statement about it.  

DESERT/HOOTEN WELLS STATION 

L.C. Bishop and Paul Henderson, as well as the mail contract of 1861, list Desert as a station between Carson Sink and Fort Churchill.  This obscure station probably housed telegraph activities and possibly served as a Pony Express station during the last few months of its existence. A good source of water later made the station a popular stopping point for travelers, miners, and teamsters in the 1860s.  

A few sources identify Hooten Wells as a Pony Express station.  The site possibly functioned as a Pony Express station during the last few months of its existence and later served freight and stage operations. Rock ruins exist two miles south of Buckland's Station and twelve miles east of present Highway 95 alternate.  Townley lists the route from U.S. Alternate 95 to Hooten Wells as 11.5 miles and places Hooten Well slightly northeast of Desert Station.  http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/poex/hrs/hrs8a.htm#151