Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1894-01-13
THE FAMOUS PONY EXPRESS.
Fast, Hard, and Dangerous Riding with
Letters for the Gold Diggers

fas'' hard, ana Dangerous Riding with
Letters for the Gold Diggers
The +, glllar work of the daring and
romantic overland Pony Express riders
has never been exceeded, even by TIL
recent specially trained for long dis
lance riding of the German and Aus
TRAN army officers. When it is CoaSid
cred that those Pony Express riders
travelled over Il wild country. without
bridges, or even roads de serving the
name. crossed two great mounta IL
chii1S, vast aliAli deserts, and had t.
fight Indians and wolves along much
of their journeys, and that the aver
AZ i}m' made was go mics Il day,
II will be seen that even the GOV, m
m'htS which pay attention to such
m2itrrS have no such courier system
t. C"I upon. But this system was or
%i"i%"d for the accommodation of the
gold miners of California, who were
able and willing to pay, and in fact
did pay, s., for each half ounce of NAL
brought To them from the old folks ut
hom" by the daring little Pony Expire $
riders, Each rider was limited to lif-
teen pounds of mail, which WAS divid-
eel Nto four packages of equal weight
and carried in saddle pockets. two III
front and two behind the rider. So it
w al ~ '>''Ii llE!l ticll IltstT earn Il
mail fer which the company rccriv Il
Nl.-i", i'll addition, of course. to the
aitHd States postage
The rout' of the Pony Express be
gan ut st. Joseph. Mo-. and cXtcn,cd
due west to Fort Kcarn,y, Nrb.
tN"nr" up the Platte River to Jul $
burg, COL, across the Platte ami to
Forts Laramie and Bridges. Wyo.. and
ON to Salt Lake, Utah. The descent
into the plains of Nevada was mldr
by the rou!" through Ruby Valley ana
theme" along the Humboldt River. Til"
Sierra NrvadaS were crossed by way
OF Canyon City. rlaccrvillr. then
lnoWA as llangtown. ana the Satrl-
m"rto Valley. reached by the road the
nmcrS had made down by Folsom 10
Sacramento, and thence along the val
Icy and over the foothills into San
Francisco, where the long journey
ended
Their" We're always eighty riders in
tn" saddle. forty going east and forty
west. Change stations were close to-
gcthcr, especially over the mountan-
"llS sections us the ponies wcrc kept
at top speed from station to station.
n" matter what kind of country they
had ia travel. Many of the brave light
service lost their lives in Indian fights.
ior til" gentle red man seemed to rs-
'r"n il peculiarly high honor to
dTn&ir an Express riders s"alp at his
h 1T.
We wonder was that the service was
k, pl up ut all: that SO many of The
riders escaped the Indians, and the
dA; IS of tlo"d storm, snow. heat and
Cp'd Th"ij' chief advantag, in en-
counters with the Indians Nv:lS that
til" Pony Express riders were always
better mounted, on better fed horses.
% than tn" Indians. and could take care
of Themselves in II chase. They were
4 wary and experienced lot and ditfi-
cult t" nmbuSCadc, so that while an
occasional scalp was lost there wcrr
noe many of the letters long, d for
Which never came over that dnngrr-
Gus route.
TIA" Pony Express went out of exist
enc" when the overland railroad and
tcl' %".'ph service was completed in
1NiH. Few of the old riders arc still
living. and tn" promoter of the scheme
William II. RUSSELL ana his chief a.
Sistant, i. +. Ficklin. are both dead