The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1893-11-29
Anderson gntelIige,tesr.
The Greatest Horse Race.

terminus of railroad communication.
Beyond, the stage coach, the saddle
horse, the ox-team and prairie schooner
were the means of transportation
thence to the Rockies and the Pacific
slope.
In the winter Of 1s59-6O there was
a Wall street lobby at Washington
trying to get s5,OOO,O0o for carrying
the mail overland for one year, between
New York and San Francisco. The
proposition was extremely cheeky,
and William II. Russell, backed by
Secretary Of War Floyd, resolved to
give the lobby a cold shower-bath.
He, therefore, offered to bet s2O0,OO
that he could put on mail from
Sacramento, CAL, to St. Joseph, Mo-,
that would make the distance, $50
miles-in ten days. The bet was
taken, and April 8 fixed upon as the
day for starting.
Mr.. Russell called upon his partner
and general manager of business upon
the plains, Mr.. A. B. Miller, and
stated what he had done, and asked if
he could perform the feat.
Miller replied: eyes, sir, 1 will do
it, and by pony express r.
To accomplish this, Miller purchas-
ed 300 Of the aeetest horses he could
find in the west, and employed 125
men. Eighty Of these men we're to be
post-riders. These he selected with
reference to their light weight and
known courage. 1t was very essential
that the horses be loaded as light as
possible-therefo the lighter the
man the better. It was necessary that
some portions Of the route should be
made at the rate of twenty miles an
hour.
The horses were station sd from Gen
to twenty miles apart and each rider
would be required to ride sixty miles.
For the change of animals and the
shifting Of the mails, two minutes were
allowed. Where there were no stage
stations at proper distances, tents suf-
fcient to accommodate one man and
two horses would be provided. In
dians would sometimes give chase, but
their cayuse ponies made but sorry
show in their stern chase after Mill
er's thoroughbreds, many of which
could make single mile in las.
All arrangements being completed,
signal gun on the steamer Sacramen-
to proclaimed the meridian Of 9th of
April, 1860-the hour for starting
when Border Rufian, Mr.. Miller's pri-
vate saddle horse, with Billy Baker in
the saddle, bounded away towards the
foot hills in the Sierra Nevada, and
made his ride Of twenty miles in forty
nine minutes. The SHOWS were deep
ia the mountains, and one rider was
Host for several hours in snowstorm,
and after the Salt Lake Valley was
reached additional speed became ne
cessary to reach St. Joseph on time.
From there all went well until the
Platte was to be crossed at Julesburg.
The water was up and running rapidly,
but into the river-aood the rider
plunged his horse, only, however, to
mire and drown in the quicksand.
The courier succeed in reaching the
shore with the mail bag in hand, and
travelled ten miles on foot to reach the
next relay. Johnny Fry, a popular
rider of his day, was to make the fin
ish. He had sixty miles to ride, and
six hours to do it with. When the
last courier arrived at the sixty-mile
post, out from St. Joseph, he was one
hour behind time. A heavy rain had
set in, and the road was slippery. Two
hundred thousand dollars turned upon
a single minute. Fry had just three
hours and thirty minutes in which to
win. This was the finish Of the long
est race for the largest stake ever run
in America.
When the time for his arrival was
nearly up, at least 5000 people stood
upon the river bank, with eyes turned
toward the woods from which the horse
and rider shortly emerged into the
open country in the rear of Elmwood,
one mile from the finish. Tick tick
tick ! went thousands Of watches. The
time was nearly up--but seven min
utes remained Hark shout goes
up from the assembled throng "He
comes He comes r. The noble little
mare, Sylph, the daughter of Little
Arthur darts like an arrow from the
bow, and makes the run of the last
mile in 1:50, landing on the ferryboat
with five minutes and ten seconds to
spare !-Savannah (Ga) Ne,os.