Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-08-26
THE PONY EXPRESS.
A Talk With the Man Who Helped rs.
tablish It


tablish It
From the St Louis Republic.
There Is Q quiet, middle-aged gentleman stop
ping at the Southern hotel whose life-work
constitutes an important part Of the growth and
development Of the great state Of Colorado.
Pis name is John Scudder, and he was one Of
the nrst 70 advocate the organization Of the
celebrated pony express, and, after its estab-
hshment, through the efforts Of VIM. II. Rus
sell, assisted in its management and operation
In conversation with Republic reporter a few
days ago he related the history of that famous
enterprise. After lighting q cigar and seating
himself in q comfortable easy chair, he said:
Let me see-Lincoln was nominated and
elected in 1s60-yes, that was the wear. 1850.
tnat the pony express was first started 1t had
been talked Of for some time previous but il
was not until that year that
IT WAS PUT INTO SUCCESSFUL OPERATION
You see the building Of railroads in the east
had driven the old stage companies across the
river in search of new territory, and all that
vast expanse Of country lying between the Mis-
souri, river and the Rocky mountains depended
for mail and transportation facilities upon the
Great Western and the Alvord stage compa-
MES. The mail between the Pacific coast and
the eastern states was carried by the Pacific
Mail Steamship company, and the owners OF
the stage lines, who we're as bold lot of men
as could be found in the Union and who were
experts as lobbyists, conceived the idea of Sc
surfing the contract fer carrying the United
States mail between San Francisco and the Mis-
souri, river. With that idea IN view
they went to Washington to urge the
matter upon Congress, and would, nc
doubt have succeeded had it not been fol
the energy and enterprise Of VIM. II. Russell
nf he 81 1t a n
who we're at that time the wealthiest and
most extensive freight contractors in the
Union. Just to give you an idea of the mag
nitude of their business will tell you that II
1857, when / first knew Mr.. Russell, they
were under contract with the national gov.
eminent to carry every pound of freight
north. south and west of the Missouri river
and east of the Rocky mountains, including
every government post in that territory. Al
that time they had over 1900 wagons on the
road at one time, each costing from $50 L
s100, and as each wagon required six yoke o.
oxen to pull it, you may form some conception
of the amount of capital invested Overland
railroads were not yet regarded as within the
bounds OF possibility, and desire to say righ
here that the first man to propose the building
OF transcontinental railroad was named
Whitney.
THE PIXIES PEAK EXPRESS COMPANY.
But to 60 on with my story; John Hockay
day Co. of Independence, No.. had obtained
from the postal department, just previous t.
the Mormon war, contract for carrying
monthly mail between the Missouri river anC
Utah. This contract was made for the benefit
Of the Mormons but Hockayday & Co. became
in some way, heavily indebted to Majors. Russell
d Waddell. and the mail contract fell int
the latter's hand. To carry it out they put OF
line OF stages between Leavenworth, Kan
and Denver, which was known as the Pike
Peak express company. The formation of thii
| company was the creation entirely of Mr.
Russell, and did not at first receive the ap
proval of his partners. John S. Jones' a promi
nent freighter, joined with Mr.. Russell in tn,
enterprise, and the other members Of the firm
were compelled to aid in carrying out Mr.
Russelrs ideas. The venture proved yer,
| remunerative and did much to open anc
settle up Kansas and Colorado. Their freight
! ing business with Utah and the north. west anC
south had in the meantime grown so vast tina
| 1t became necessity for them to have som,
more rapid means OF conveying their CORE
spondence from post to post, and they Sc
about devising some means for its accomplish
| ment. While studying the matter over tn,
representatives of the stage lines already re
ferred to succeeded in getting Congress Il
consider the establishment of an overland
mail to California. The newspapers took tn,
matter up and called attention to the time re
| quired for the passage of letters between New
York and San Francisco. There were tw,
rival lines, one the Pacific mail STEAMSHIP,
company, owned by Vanderbilt and ID. R. Gar
| rison, and the other known as the Butterfel,
| overland stage company, whose eastern ter
minus was Memphis, and who utilized tn
| southern route across the continent Stirre,
| up by the newspaper agitation they determine
upon test of speed, and the result was tria
| trip, in which one beat the other by abou
twentyfour hours, the time consumed betweel
| New York and San Francisco by the winne
being txenty-one days and eight hours.
THE PLAN CONCEIVED.
"This was in the fall Of SO, and during tn,
ensuing winter /, together with some of Mr.
Russelrs men, gathered at the headquarters il
Salt Lake City, which were under the charge O
A. B. Miller, man of considerable ability anS
known throughout the west as sporting char
acter. The eastern newspapers which founC
their way into camp were full of the overland
mail agitation, and becoming interested in the
discussion We began to figure on the time. ant
distance. / did most Of the calculating, anl
the more figured the greater became our in
| terest. We satisfied ourselves fully that tn,
time could be greatly shortened, and the re
suit was that the boys wrote to Mr.. Russell, in
forming him that they would undertake K
carry mail from st. Joseph, No., to San Fran
cisco in twelve days. Now in addition to hi
wonderful enterprise, Mr.. Russell was a kindly
man, and ever ready to listen to suggestion
from those under him. We were not surprised
therefore, Wnen ne replleu promptly 10 oul
letter, and requested that we acquaint hin
fully with the particulars of our plan. We i'm
mediately drafted out a rough map o.
the country, showing the proposed route
together with the stations and their distance
apart, and this we forwarded to him withou
delay. We, at the same time, wrote him an
other letter, explaining our plan of covering
the route by relays Of horses, carrying a mai
pouch and strongly urged its entire practica
bility. Quite a number of communication
passed between Mr.. Russell and his agent a
Salt Lake, and the upshot Of il was that tn,
former agreed to test the matter by stringint
out a lot of horses and riders between the Ms
souri, river and the Pacific coast. The frs
notice they received of Mr.. Russell's accept
ance, however, was the receipt Of an order K
buy two hundred good horses at Salt Lake. A
the same time Ben Fickland, who was then di
vision master between Denver and Salt Lake
but afterward famous as a blockade runner
left New York for San Francisco to buy horses
there. The horses were good. strong ones, but
not heavy, and the prices paid for them ranged
as high as $500 each. Associated with us also
in the work of preparation for the great trial
were a man named Bromley and the notorious
Slade. who was afterward hanged in Montana,
and who was employed as division master be-
-