The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-09-11
THE WILD WEST PONY EXPRESS.
Showing Adventures of Buffalo Bill
as Boy Mail Carrier.
From the New York Recorder.

"You know what the pony express
was2" began Buffalo Bill. mo? Well,
then I'll tell you. BY the year 1859 the
telegraph system extended from the At
lantic seaboard as far west as ST. Joseph,
and from San Francisco as far east as
Sacramento. But between Sacramento
and St. Joseph interviewed ,9s2 miles of
desert. An overland mail coach system
was established in 1853, which accom-
plished the distance in about three
weeks. Senator Gwinn of Cali
fornia saw what an immense advantage
it would be to the entire eoun-
try, and especially to his own state,
if this time could be reduced. He
suggested TO the Overland Stage Com
pany that pony express, consisting of
successive relays of ponies, that should
be changed at stations along the route,
would carry kilograms and mails in less
than half the time it took the numbering
stages. The company was quick to take
the hint. Hence the pony express. The
schedule time was ten days, and though
the riders had to pass through a desert
country infested by hostile sayages and
frequently swept by storms and billiards.,
though they had to Chamber over precipi-
tous mountains, wade through streams
and rivers, and make dittcult Roadway
through trackless wastes Of sand and sage
brush, they were rarely even so much as
an hour behind the schedule time.
The pony express was esta blished on
April 8, 1860. Sixty riders and APO ponies
were secured. The stations were from
twelve to fifteen miles apart. Each pony
made only one station, each rider was re-
quired to make three, but he had the OPP
tion of doing double duty. The keepers
of the stations had the ponies ready sad
died and bridled, the rider merely Jump
ing from the back of one TO the other or
where the rider was changed his pouch
was unbuckled and handed 10 his already
mounted successor, who started at gal
lop as soon as his hand clutched the bag
Almost with the very esCa blishment
of the pony express | had become rider.
| was oily Is, but l soon made a reputa-
tion as thoroughly reliable rider But
my mother wanted me at home, and at
her urgent entreaty / resigned after two
months service Still, the fever had en-
tered my blood. | looked back yearn-
ingly ON those two months Of active. ad-
venturous life. At last | could stand il
no longer. That fall / told my mother |
had made up my mind to return to the
pony express. She gave a reluctant
consent.
Il sought out the famous Capt. Slade,
who was then stage agent for the divis-
ion extending from Julesburg to Rocky
Ridge.
why, my boy, said Slade, when ex-
planned my errand, you're too young for
a pony express rider. 1t takes men, and
good men, for that business
Well | replied, little hotly, per-
haps, i rode two months last year on Bill
Trotter's division, and think am a bet
ter man now than / was tuen.'
What. said Shade; you're that boy
are you, the youngest rider on the road
whom I've heard them speak of?
"'Yes, | am, ! replied
Good: III engage you.
~ was assigned to duty on the road
from Red Buttes, on the 4North Platte, to
the Three Crossings of the Sweetwater-
a distance of seventy-six miles IL was a
long distance, but ! soon showed that !
was equal TO more than this, for one day,
when had come 60 the end of my route,
! found that my successor was dead
drunk. His route was eighty-fve miles
long. What did ! Uaret at once
mounted his pony and dashed OF ] made
every relay station on time and accom-
pished the round trip Of 322 miles back
To Red Buttes without an hours rest I
believe this is the longest ride in the
records Of the Pony Express Company"