The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-01-17

man in western Kansas and who, by the
way, had been sergeant in Major Ring
| gold battery and saw that patriot killed
| in the Mexican war battle of Palo Alto
| And Major RinggoId, in turn, was the in.
ventor of the famous McClelIand military
saddle used by the United States army,
a fact which recalls the disgust of the
/ Pony Express riders when they found
that the company had supplied them with
this sort Of horse gear. Needless TO say,
the better liked broad-horned plains sad
die soon took the place or the McCleiland
among the riders.
f! Some years ago General David Peck. of
! California, who was one of the organizers
Of the Pony Express. and who put his
whole fortune into the enterprise, gave
an account Of the difficulties and dangers
/, which beset the PACING end of the line.
His account is interesting if for no othet
reason than to show the intrepid and in
bic nature of the mountaineer and
plainsman and We conclude with short
quotation from it:
Il am prOuder of my connection with
} the California pony express, he said the
other day, that of anything else in my
life. Nothing would ever have brought
trans-continental railroads for us so well
as that We were laughed at unmerciful-
~ when we began to get ready to start
the express business across the noun
tains and plains. 1 remember that no less
a man than Coils p Huntington, who has
since been the head and front of the
greatest railroad system in California,
and an intrepid builder of course for
the iron horse across the Sierras. called
me into his hardware store in Sacramento
in the spring of 1859 and asked me how 1
had lost my wits. and he added that it
was constructive murder to send out lone
horesmen to ride through the 1000 miles
to the Missouri river. because not one in
five could get away from the Indians.
When the express line was open however,
the hardware firm of huntington ana
Mark used TO pay us from $3.50 to $500 a
month for doing business for them 1t
took $4,000 to build relay stations and
lay out and construct trails across the
No one knows what hard
work We had to perform to make the
passes in the mountains, 1000 feet above
sea level, passable for our riders. We had
to haul lumber through snow and ice
on the backs on donkeys five or six miles
for our relay stations. We were constant
~ worrying at news our riders brought
us of deviltry by the Utes and Piutes to
our stations and riders We had horses |
stolen and shot at night many time and |
twice in Nevada We had the men at the |
relay stations killed and the places |
robbed of everything. AS l look back on.
hat day, now that I have become more |
with age, / wonder how we |
ever managed to take the awful risks |
,ur riders did day and night in that coun-
ry. 1t is Il wonder they were not all I
ulled. as Huntington predicted. 1 be-
ieve We lost but five riders altogether by
indian attacks on the western part of
he pony express line in the two years
ives by exposure in the snow banks and
&c in the upper mountains. 1 have no
alta about deaths at the hands OF Indians
nd from physical ailments on the parts
f the express line east of Nevada, but l
emember there was once in a long time
ider who was shot from his broncho in
hat region. You see, after the Indians
anne to know that our riders meant no 4
rouble for them, and seldom carried
honey or valuables. they ceased to have
esigns on them