Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1874-09-04
PONY EXPRESS.
The OLD way of Crossing the plain

The old way OF Crossing the CLAIMS
The most curious and perfect of all
the pony expresses was that which used
to run across the plains. OF course you
know what | mean by the plains When
| was boy almost the whole country
between the Mississippi river and the
Pacific ocean on the maps was the Great
American Desert, and in my geography
| il was described as wide, sandy plain.
In nv mind it was not unlike the desert
of Sahara, with fercer tribes inhabiting
it. Schooboys nowadays have better
maps and Biographies, and know this
country by the names of the great States
of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and
Nevada, which have been formed of it,
What was desert to us is prairie to you,
boys; what we thought barren sand you
know to be rich soil, and you cross it by
rail in three days, where we, in stage
coaches, used to make the trip in seven
teen.
The Pacific railroad killed the pony
express, but in, its day the latter was
great institution, which would have put
to the blush the pony express of the
Russians and Tartars or our own army
couriers. 1t was not a government line,
either; private enterprises started and
kept il going on a grand scale. 1t
fused mn" and "broke down more
than a thousand horses and Indian
ponies a year. 1t employed nine or ten
hundred couriers and coach drivers and
station. keepers, and more than one hun
bred Concord coaches. Every day in
the year one of these stages started from
the east end and one from the west end
of the route, and often as many as fifty
were making the trip at the same time.
Tins coach stations were ten miles apart,
and there were more than two hundred
Of them in ALL The route led from
Atchison, Mo-, across the plains for five
DAYS to Denver, Col; then five days more
up the Rocky Mountains to Salt Lake |
CITY. Utah: then seven days more down |
the mountains to Sacramento City, Gal:
At one station the stage coach reached
a level OF FIVE thousand feet above the
plains, and in the summer months it was
the custom of the drivers to stop there
ten minutes, not for refreshments, but to
allow the passengers the novel pleasure
of snowballing each other in July. In
these dreary mountains few persons
were often TO be met other than mem
bers of the family OF Mr.. Grizzly Bear,
who, as he happens to be hungry, is a
very UNPLEASANT fellow to travel with
On the plain the enemy most dreaded
was the redskinned tribes whose rowing
bands almost daily attacked the coaches.
To repel such attacks each passenger
was required to carry a rifle as part of
his baggage. A crack driver was one
who could drive four horses at full
speed with the reins in his teeth and a
rife in his hands. Every station was a
fort. with soldiers to defend it. Often
the coaches had to be guarded from
station to station by the soldiers, who
followed on horseback, and at times the
soldiers and passengers were forced to
fortify themselves in the coach
and fght until help came by the
approach of other coaches. Seventeen
days Of a trip like this would furnish
almost enough adventure for lifetime.
But it was the swift mail courlers of
this line who ran risks and led adven-
turous lives full of daring and danger.
They ran the gauntlet of the Indians
all alone-at night as well as by day
and a rough time many of them had of
it. Their stations were twenty-five
miles apart and the trips between them
had to be made at full galop, and in
two hours and half, winter or summer,
day or night, over plain or mountain.
The horses were hardy Indian ponies,
swift and sure Of foot; but the service
killed them very rapidly. The riders
we're old pioneers, who knew the ways OF
the Indians and how to avoid them.
Still many of them fell victims to their
daring and their sense of duty. The
long trip of two thousand miles occupied
the mail carriers eight days, at the rate
of more than ten miles an hour; but
important election news was carried at
still more rapid rate. But at length
the harnessed lightning and the iron
horse distanced the pony on his own
track, and he has gone further West to
pastures new.-FrOm The Pony En-
press" in 81. Nicholas for September.