Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-08-08
THE PONY EXPRESS.
How the Nails We're Carried Across the
COntiheAt Only a Very Ftw
Years Ago.
An Exciting Race Between Horses and
Steamers-A Fifty-Thousand
Dollar Bet.
Mr.. 4. B. Miller, The prime mover in tn,
f.u,-p5 ,aa- axpra=a tho man UhH ma

Mr.. A, B. Miller, The prime mover in the
famous ony express, The man who pre-
pared the way and kept il 10 running orier
from the Missouri TO the Pacific, Is now q
resident OF Chicagc, and his hair is only
stresked with gray, SO fas: do things change
in the West. In an early day the firm OF
Russell, Majors, Waddell & ca. were among
the Target contractors in the United Ststes,
their business sometimes amounting 10
SIS. 600 900 annually. Mr.. Miller was the
sC1n lie Youngest member of the firm, sud
In a great measure Inc life OF it. Mails we're
very irregular, the stsgo lines .eeSlng a
weekly which was sometimes lost, in fsct,
was extremely fortunate to get through. This
was conducted at q tremendous cost. There
was great rivalry between the stage and
ocean lines, the latter struggling for coutraCts
for taking The mails from New York BIZ
steamer up the Western c0sst. The NAL
which went Overland went by the North IN
route through New MEXICO and A j.
IONA. The contracting firm above m L.
TONED had the control OF the T.
trail route by Kearuey, Julesburg, Fort
Laramie and Salt Lake. People insist d
that this route was imprscticable, snd the
idea OF q daily mail over it was pooh .poohed
most vigorously. Nj. Miller persuaded his
more conservative partners that such a maii
could be carried. From this idea grew the
pony express, the fame Of which wss soon
world wide. He was given tao months,
February and March, 1861, to sqnip the lire
with stock and stations, which he did a; q
cost of $4,000. 1t was though. that the liz
would supper, itself; go the proprie:ors ex
pected not 10 be out more than the original
Investment. 1t could hardly be said that il
did pay, but it demonstrated what could be
done, aud encouraged the railroad and the
wire to follow in its wake. Previous 10 this
time there had been limited express lines Of
the kind, but no lhiDg on 30 gigantic q scale
Mr.. Miller had been over the route enough
10 now what had been done. He said that
Salt Lake could be reached from ST. Joe il
len days, aid the &C asst in FIVE days more.
Ga April 81 the ponies were started from
each end Of the liae. By this lime the con-
idence of Miller had proved infectious, aud
Russell was just as confident. The Nav
York steamer company were confident too
but not in the same way. 81 a bet wa
.autir.- 1t was a pretty good sized BET, bein.
for $4,000 a eide.
The race began and was watched with
breathlsss Interest. Station after station wa
passed. The po1y from the ocean and III,
pony from the valley painted TOWARD esci
other, with hundreds of miles between then
melting away. At each station there wa
another horse ssddled and rider read,
spurred. The mailbag was tossed from on,
to the other, and on sped like the wind t.,
fresh Eorec and rider. One boy or The. fire
trip was lost 10 a caGyou Of snow. For fou
precious hours he wandered. Then b
started On with desperate vigor. Ano:he
was lost in the Platte; the horse he rode wa
drowned. But the rider swan out with b.
mail and footed it to the next stat on
Here his relief was in waiting, ard In
flight wss taken up again. Would III
rider and the horse with their daring an,
energy win? Would the accident and tn
s.raugeness OF the trial make them lose? II
one could tell. The days passed. The ponie
neared each other, they passed, tbs rider
gave a wild hurrah. On and Tn; whip an,
apur. Ten days have gone apd the ponie
have kept up to The mark. FIftcers AT
O'Clock the Westward bJuad m ist be 10 s &C
ramento. The nom has passed and The min
utes are being couated. Hal!-pIst 8. vii
the brave rider be on hand? IA y Their
is no sign. With only ihiity minutes (
/, spare Russell wants TO double has bet. The
a cloud Of dust is seen; il grows 10 4 spect
The rider wayes his hs'. The people shou
The pony express has Crosssd the Grea
American desert. Victory! There is stil
twenty minutes grace.
This speed was slw avs kept up jlst as
. there were $50. 600 al stake daily. 1T wa
. the same for month4. Then the complies
. t.os- OF -turued every thi ing ups.d
down. The riders ". NJ 10 ba lie, tho zti
/. tions were a abandoned, contracts went I
I other hands, and grass grew over the trsi
: But room the stsgs used it, and the telegrap
! line was not fst b hind. while thcse wb
: ] have rushed a ross Tie plaios b. steam kao
what followed these innovations.
The riders Of the pony express were a
young, why tel'ew', whose very love Of 81
n element and danger bad brcu sht them TO Il
frontier. lu this occupation they hsd The
fill. The indiyi iusl adventures would Fill
volume. The life, with Its expo,ure az
hardship; was a wearing one. What has b
/ come OF the riders row in question? Mar
\ OF them have FOLLOWED the iroutier, and wi
stand on it's fore till Ihsy die. Many hs'
died already. Ode, named Murphy, recent
9 died in SILT l. Ike. From The stripping
. the '60's be came 10 weigh 220 pouads. I
r made quite a reputation az a desperate chs
!, acter. As one who knew him said, "He .
> too big to ride a pony, but had a good bui
Tor holding up stSgts." O1e Of the mt
daring of the crowd rode into S Ii Lake fro
eighty miles this side, through the wild,
part Of The route, IL was a hard task, b
,e the lad was equal 10 j., doing the work
about four men. He afierwsrd joined 1
Confederate army, and died on q S3uthe
!, battlefield.
=. 1htse fIOeTS were oil 4 ClaES similar 10 |
4 cowboys Of the present day, ready for a fl
or a frolic, and enteriog either with the
termination TO make the most Of il. Tn
, were loyal 10 each other snd their frisn,
|, There WAS only one mail lost b. them, a.
> that happened to be OF little value. l. "
=" lost in Egan's canon, when the rider iu char
was attacked by the Indians, hi. horse kill
Z and himself woundsd. Tue company tri
g 10 get The government TO punish the Iudia
Il Tor this, but there was another matter
IL Uncle Sam to attend to just then. So Nil
took seveniy-hye men, went ont and killed
=, few OF tbs playful savsgss, and found III
T. they KEEP: out OF the way very nicely aft
ID The charges for carrying letters were S. 7
ounce or fraction thereof. This was aft
N ward reduced 10 half the amount, snd th
a so3t Of paper known as "Pony EXPIRES
9. was invented, its beat point bsing that
m weighed almost nothing. The couten:s of
o. eight-psge paper could be written upon
Is and sent for 81 80.
The income Of The concern while runni
averaged $500 per day. Some very valuaI
i documents were carried. and in every C;
:. arrived in good order. England was at Il
y time having a little argumsnt with Chi
Reports from the English squadron in Chin
" waters TO the home government were clrri
.e by this route, it being the quickest and SAT-
b One OF these official papers weighed 80 mt
that the charges upo1 II were fl35.