South-eastern Independent. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1871-1871, 1871-06-09
The 0ld-Time Pony Express Of the
Great Plains.

HOWEVER, in a little while, all interest
was taken up in stretching our necks, and
watching for the "pony--ider"@the fleet
messenger who sped across the continent
from St Joe to Sacramento, carrying let
tiers nineteen hundred miles in eight daysi
Think of that fer perishable horse and hu-
man flesh and Flood to do. The pony
rider was usually a little bitof a man, brim
full of spirit and endurance. No matter
what time of day or night his watch came
on, and nc matter whether it was winter
or summer, raining, showing, hailing or
sleeting, or whether his beat" was a level
straight road or a crazy trail over NOUN
tain crags and precipices, or whether it ld
through peaceful regions, or regions that
swarmed with hostile Indians, he must be
always ready to leap into the saddle and be
of like the wind There was no idling
time for a pony-rider on duty. He rode
forty miles without stopping, by daylight,
moonlight, starlight, or through the black
ness of darkness, Just as It happened. He
rode a splendid horse that was born for
aracer, and fed M lodgedlike a gentleman,
kept him at his utmos. speed for ten miles,
and then, as he cane crashing up to the
station, where stood two men, holding a
fresh, impatient steed, the transfer of rider
and mail bag was made in the twinkling of
IN eye, and away few the eager pair, and
were out ofsight before the spectator could
get hardly the ghost of e look. Both
rider and horse went Tying light" The
riders dress was thin and fitted close; he
wore a " roundabout" and a "skull-cap,"
and tucked his pan.aloons into his boot
tops, like a race-rider. He carried no
arms-he carried nothing that was not
absolutely necessary, for even his postage
On his literary freight was worth two dol
lars an ounce. He got but little frivolous
correspondence to carry; his bag had
business letters IN it mostly. His horse
wa stripped of ell unnecessary weight,
too. He wore a light wafer of a racing
saddle, and no visible blanket. He wore
light shoes, or none at all. The little fiat
mail pockets, strapped under the riders
thighs, would each hold about the bulk of
a child's primer. They held many and
many An impOrtGnt business chapter and
newspaper letter, but these were wrote on
paper as airy and thin as gold-leaf, nearly,
and thus bulk and weight were econO-
mixed. The stage coach travelled about a
hundred to a hundred and twenty-five
miles a day Ctwenty-four hours the pony
rider about two hundred and fifty. There
NClS dDOub ClSusf pOu1-NuCIS III Tic Sdu-
die all the time, night and day, stretching
in a long, scattering procession from Mis-
souri, to California-forty flying eastward
and forty towards the west, ald among
them making four hundred gallant horses
earn a stirring livelihood, snd see a deal
of scenery every single day in the year.
We had had e consuming desire from
the beginning to see the pony-rider, but,
somehow or other, all thai passed US, and
all that met us, managed to streak by in
the night, and so We heard only a whiz
and a hail, and the swift phantom of the
desert was gone, before we could get our
heads out of the windows. But now we
were expecting n along every moment,
and would see him in broad daylight.
Presently the driver exclaims:
"Here he comesI"
Every neck is stretched further, and
every eye is strained wider. Away across
the endless dead level of the prairie q
black speck appears against the sky, and
it is plain that it moves. Well, 1 should
think sol In a second or two 1t becomes a
horse and rider, rising and falling-sweep-
ing toward US nearer and nearer-growing
more and more distinct, more and more
sharply detined-neerer and nearer, and
the tlutter of tine hoots comes family to
the ear-another instant q whoop and a
hurrah from our upper deck, a wave of
the riders hand, but no reply, and man
and horse burst past cur excited faces, and
go winging away Ike a belated fragment
of a storml
So sudden is it all, and so like a flash of
unreal fancy, that but for the fake of white
foam left quivering and perishing on a
mail sack, after the vision had flashed by
whether we had seen any actual horse and
man at all, may be.-Nark Noaia.