The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-03-30
EARLY RAILROAD HISTORY.
Pony Express and Hannibal-St
Joseph Secure Mail Contract.

Pony Express and HannibaI-st
Joseph Secure Mail Contract.
dispatch to the Kansas City Star
from Macon, No, gives the following
interesting details of early day rail-
road life in that state:
There are a few older residents of
Missouri who will recall Monday,
April 3, as the forty-ffth anniversary
Of a notable event in these parts
That was the day a fast mail train
was run across Missouri on the Han
nibal & St Joe railroad to connect
with the pony express in st. Joseph.
OF the men connected with the enter
prise there are yet living George H.
Davis. claim agent, Quincy, ILL., I. y.
WILDER, master mechanic, Hannibal;
Addison Clark, engineer, now living in
Massa chusetts, and l. L. Coleman,
who was fuel agent in Macon, but is
now merchant in Liberal, Mo.
1t is probable that there nAver was
an occasion on a road west of the
Mississippi that caused greater excite
ment than the first run of the fast
mail The track was not ballasted as
IT is today and the bridges were not as
safe The old style T rails were used
and the wheels clattered over them
with noise like gang of workmen
pounding boiler rivets. Wood was
used in the locomotives. The era of
coal had not arrived in the west, al
though in a short time afterward It
was discovered in Bevier and the en-
gines remodeIed to use it.
For Mail Contract.
An important mail contract from
the government was the prize for a
successful run Russell had just com
pleted the arrangements for his 2 0e0
mile pony express between St Joseph
and san francisco, and at every ten
miles along that immense distance a
tough fibered western pony awaited
the little rider with the tissue mail.
No less care was used in arranging
for the fast mail run across the state
by the Hannibal & St. Joe officials.
The best engineer and the swiftest en-
CINE We're chosen. The single car at
tached contained the mail and the Of
ficials of the road. Mr.. Davis, who
was then trainmaSter had given or
derS to have all the switches spiked
down and to keep the tracks clear for
several hours before the train was ex-
pected- Fuel agents were notified TO
be ready to load the tender like light
ming One fuel agent took the pre-
caution to build a platform in order
This was done in Macon.
At every town the flying train was
greeted by wildly cheering crowds.
comprising the entire population OF
the place Engineer Clark labored
under such an intense nervous strain
that he refused to eat al BroOkfield
where there was a brief stop for dim
ner-
The run was made all right and the
road got the contract. The pony ex-
press also performed its more rigid
AOAuiieIHelllS satisfactorily, and for
years the western mail was transport
ed on little ponies shooting across the
plains and mountains nearly as fast as
the railroad trains ran.
The First Night Trip.
There was another important run
on the HANNIBAL road thirty wears
later. but it never attracted the atten-
ton that the first run of the fast mail
did The Eli train made its first trip
In the night time. superintendent
Houlahan rode in the cabs of the en-
gineS from Kansas City to Quincy and
returned He ate supper in Kansas
City, got a midnight lunch at Quincy
and was back in the city by the Kaw
IN time for brea kfast.
In these days. fast railroad runs do
not excite the attention they formerly
did. Now, every road is straining its
mail engines up to the limit. Engines
are known by numbers and the best
of engineers are merely a cog in the