Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1898-11-11
A MEMORABLE RACE.
y
It Was a Long One and for an
Enormous Stake
~ cstern Post Riders Travel Against Time
from the Pacific Coast to the Mis-
souri, River for Two nundre~
Thousand Dollars.

In 1850 st. Joseph, Mo-, was the ter
minus of railroad communication, says
a writer in the Savannah News. Be-
yond, the stage coach, th2 saddle
horse, the OK team and prairie schoon-
CIR were the means of transportation
thence to the Rockies and the Pacific
slope. In the winter of 1S59-6O there
was Wall street lobby at Washington
trying to get five million dollars for car
rying the mail overland for one year
between New York and San Francisco.
The proposition was extremely cheeky,
and William III. Russell, backed by Sec.
rotary of War Floyd, resolved to give
the lobby n cold shower bath. He
thousand dollars that he could put on
a mail from Sacramento Cal, to st. Jo-
seph, Mo-, that would make the dis
lance - nineteen hundred and fifty
milcs-in ten days. The bet was
taken and April fixed upon as the
day for starting.
Mr.. Russell called upon his partner
and general manager of mail route
business upon the plains, A. B. Miller,
and asked if he could perform the feat.
Miller replied: Eyes, sir, will do
it, and by pony express"
To accomplish this, Miller purchased
three hundred of the fleetest horses he
could find in the west, and employed
one hundred and twenty-five men
Eighty OF these men were to be post
riders. These he selected with refer
ence to their light weight and known
courage. 1t was very essential that
the horses be loaded as light as pos
sible; therefore the lighter the man
the better. 1t was necessary that
some portions of the route should be
made at the rate of twenty miles an
hour. The horses were stationed from
ten 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 sufficient to accommodate one
man and two horses would be pro-
vided. Indians would sometimes give
chase, but their cayuse ponies made
but sorry show in their stern chase
after Miller's thoroughbreds, many Of
which could make single mile in one
minute and forty-six seconds.
All arrangements being completed, .
signal gun on the steamer Sacramento
proclaimed the meridian of Sth April.
1SG6-the hour for starting-when
Border Ruffian. Mr.. Miller's private
saddle horse, with Billy Baker in the
saddle, bounded away toward the
foothills of the Sierra Nevada, and
made his ride of twenty miles in forty
nine minutes The SHOWS were deep
in the mountains and one rider was
lost for several hours in a snowstorm;
and after the Salt Lake valley was
reached additional speed became nee
essary to reach st. Joseph on time.
From there all went well until the
Platte was to be crossed at Julesburg.
The river was up and running rapidly,
but into the flood the rider plunged
his horse, only, however, to mire and
drown in the quicksand. The courier
succeeded in reaching the shore with
the mail bag in hand, and travelled ten
miles on foot to reach the next relay.
Johnny Fry, popular rider of his
day, was to make the finish. He had
sixty miles to ride and six hours to do
it in. 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 slip
perry. Two hundred thousand dollars
turned upon q single minute. Fry had
just three hours and thirty minutes in
which to win. This was the finish of
the longest race for the largest stake
ever run in America. When the time
for his arrival was nearly up at least
five thousand 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 minutes re-
manned! Hark! A shout goes up from
the assembled throng: >"He comes. He
comesw The noble little man! "Sylph,"
the daughter of Little Arthur" darts
like an arrow from the bow and makes
the run of the last mile in 1:5O, landing
on the ferryboat with five minutes and
ten seconds to spare!