The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-12-11

A Veteran Describes the Pioneer
Prairie Mail Service.
It's First Trial Was the Delivery
of Buchanan's Message.

glamor aud romance thrown around |
tho pony express business in the days
beforo tho advent OF the railroads"
said 4. r. Miller, one Of the corps Of
riders who carried the mail across tho
plains in 1853, "but the fact is there
was little romance about II, and very
little else but hard work.
81 commenced to ride for the OK.
press company in 1858, when the
route was laid out and tho company
organized, and continued TO ride until
Butterheld came up aud took the con-
tract, and the telegraph line was built
Ny route was from Egan Canon 10
Antelope Spring, New The riders
had 10 ride from sixty or eighty miles.
On my section / had two relays, and
used to make the trip in from six to
eight hours There was always more
or less danger from the Indians, but
when We met them we either ran away
from them cravled around them, or
fought. The danger has been greatly
magnifed. The country was so big
and the number Of Indians-Bo COM
paratively small that we had to run
into band before there was any seri-
GUS danger, and then one white man
was as good as ten Of them.
"Our stations we're not fortified at
all. They we're log cabins or sod
houses, with three or four men in
each, and though they we're burned
over and over again, they were rebuilt
Immediately and no serious loss or
Inconvenience to the service was oc-
casioned.
eve knew just when to expect the
rider from the next station, and the
horses we're always ready, so that all
we had to do was to change the mail
from one horse to another, aud we
we're of. 1t was the same at the relay
stations. The horses we're always
ready, and the only delay was in tax
ing a drink of water or a cup of coffee
and the mail was on its way.
cit was simply hard riding, COO
head, aud q keen eye that was re
CURED. Once in a while the men were
caught I have a scar or two mysel
to remember the Indians by; but OF
the whole the danger was not excess
. i've, and as for romance, there wa
nothing OF it. In 1861 the Indian
. we're specially troublesome, ands ON
. hard fights resulted butas they neve
. remained long in the same place the
could not do very great deal o
% harm.
u "The first trial of the pony expires
9 was the delivery of Buchanan's me
q sage in the spring of 1857. Our con
pany, which had the route from S
o Joe, via Salt Lake City, was the OF
L which was afterward operated
20 Ben Holiday. Buttorfeld's rou
l. was through Arizona. We had tt
common mountain ponies, and Butte
% field had high-bre horses. We too
Vi the message right through, and wht
"a Butter6eld arrived at Mojaye
d found the message coming back fro
ID San Francisco. Butterfeld ran t
ad southern route until 1850, when
g. pulled off and established line
e- coaches from st. Joe to San Francis
ist via Salt Lake. In 1861 they co
at menced to build the telegraph line.
as 81 saw statement recently that the
o. are only five survivors of the poi
as express riders. That is a mistal
ed There are number of others. I
sides myself know OF Frank Lc
90 now in Cripple Greek; Erastus Egg
.os son Of Major Egan of Egan cane
IL James White, John Fisher, and S
I'D ellison, the liscoyerer Of the beds
eli asphalt in Utah.
% "There was always excitem
aus enough in our work and nearly all
-
n'- us had narrow escapes of one kind
another We had to make time,
look out for Indians, and sometiI
the to race with storms which were lik
am to bar our progress, bat all til
Inc things soon became matters of coui
We mounted our ponies md poun