The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1874-09-17
! The Old Way of Crossing the Plains.

The Old Way of Crossing the Plains.
/ II The, most curious and perfect of all
pony expresses was that which used to
run across the plains. When [ was q
boy, almost the whole country between
the Mississippi river and the Pacific
ocean was called, on the maps, the
Great American Desert" and in nv.
geography it was described as a wide,
sandy plain. In my mind it was nobun-
!, like the desert of Sahara, with. the
fercer tribes inhabiting it. Schoolboys
now a-days have better maps and geog-
raphies, and know this country by the
names Of The great States of Kansas, Ne
braska, Colorado and Nevada, which
| have been formed Of it. What was des-
ert 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 seventeen. The
Pacific railroad killed the pony express
| but la it's day the latter was great in
| stitution, which would have put to the
blush the pony express of the Russ ians
and Tartars, or our own army couriers.
It was not q government line, either ;:
| private enterprise started and kept it
going on grand scale. It FUSED up"
and 60 broke down. more than thou
sand horses and Indian ponies year.
It employed nine or ten hundred couri-
ers and 'coach-drivers and station-keep-
ers, and more than one hundred 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. The coach
| stations were ten miles apart, and there
| were more than two hundred of them in
all. The route led from Atchison,
Missouri, across the plains, for five days
to Denver, Colorado; then five days
more up the Rocky Mountains to Salt
Lake City, Utah; then seven days more
down the mountains to Sacramento
City, California. Atone station the stage
coach reached level of five thousand
feet above the plains, and in the sum-
mer months it was the custom Of the
drivers to stop there ten minutes, not
for refreshments, but to allow the pas
pengers the novel pleasure of snow
balling each other in July. In these
dreary mountains few persons were then
to be met, other than members of the
family of Mr.. Grizzly Bear, who, if he
happens to be hungry, is a very I'M
pleasant fellow to travel with. On the
plains the enemy most dreaded was the
red-skinned tribes, whose rowing bands
almost daily attacked the coaches. To
repel such attacks each passenger was
required to carry rife 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 rifle in his hands. Every station was
a fort, with soldiers to defend it. Often
the coaches had to be guarded from sta
ton to station by the soldiers, who fol-
lowed On horseback, and at times the
soldiers and passengers were forced to
fortify themselves in the coach and
fight until help came by the approach
OF other coaches. Seventeen days of
trip like this would furnish almost
enough adventure for lifetime.
But it was the swift mail-couriers of
this line who ran risks and led advent
urous lives full of daring and danger.
Ah0y Adu Iuo ShunO1Ou VI OhO AHu1o'Lo
all alone, at night, as we'll 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 gallop, and in
two hours and a-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
were old pioneers, who knew the ways of
the Indians and how to avoid them. Still
many of them fell victims to their dar-
ing and their sense of duty. The long
trip of two thousand miles occupied the
mail-carriers eight days at the rate of
ten miles an hour; but important cleo
ton news was carried at a 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 .E1preSs," IN st.
Nicholas for September.
Dev0ured by Lion.