Morris tribune., 1896-12-02
PONY EXPRESS RIDING.
A Veteran OF the Pioneer Mail Service of
the Plains Tells About 1t.


There has been a great deal OF
glamour and romance thrown around
the pony express business in the
days before the advent of the rail.
roads, said 7. R. Miller, one of the
corps of riders who carried the mail
across the plains in 1858, "but the
fact is there was little romance
about it and very little else but
hard work.
II commenced to ride for the ex-
press company in 1858, when the
route was laid out and the company
organized, and continued to ride un-
til Butterfeld came up and took the
contract and the telegraph line was
built. My route was from Egan can
yon to Antelope Springs, New. The
riders had to ride from 80 to so 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, crawled around
them or fought. The danger has
been greatly magnified. The ooun-
try was so big and the number of In
dians so comparatively small that
we had to run into band before
there was any serious danger, and
then one white man was as good as
ten of them.
Our stations were 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 re-
built Immediately and no serious
loss or inconvenience to the service
was occasioned.
1--WE 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, and
we we're off. It was the same at the
relay stations. The horses we're al
ways ready, and the only delay was
in taking drink of water or cup
of coffee, and the mail was on its
way.
''It was simply hard riding, a cool
head and a keen eye that we're re-
quired. Once in awhile the men
we're caught. I have scar or two
myself to remember the Indians by,
but on the whole the danger was not
excessive, and as for romance-there
was nothing of it. In 1851 the In
dians we're specially troublesome,
and some hard fights resulted, but
as they never remained long in the
same place they could not do very
great deal of harm.
1.-The first trial of the pony ex-
press was the delivery of Buchanan's
message in the spring of 1857. Our
company, which had the route from
st. 10, via Salt Lake City, was the
one which was afterward operated
by Ben Holiday. Butterfeld's route
was through Arizona. We had the
common mountain ponies, and But
terfeld had high bred horses. We
took the message right through, and
when Butterfeld arrived at Mohave
he found the message coming back
from San Francisco. Butterfield ran
the southern route until 1860, when
he pulled off and established line
of coaches from St. 10 to San Fran
cisco via Salt Lake. In 1851 they
commenced to build the telegraph
lines.
There was always excitement
enough in our work, and nearly all
of US had narrow escapes of one kind
or another. We had to make time,
to look out for Indians, and some
times to race with storms which
were likely to bar our progress, but
all these things soon became matters
of course We mounted our ponies
and pounded away until we reached
our stations, and then lay down and
waited until our time came next. It
was hard work sometimes, and
pleasant at others. very much the
same as the other occupations of hu-
man existence. Denver Republic
an.