Bisbee daily review., 1909-02-18
TEOOY'S RIDE
 POOH-POOHED
 BY GEN. MILES
The President Broke No Rec- ords, Established No New Standards-Pony Express Riding On the Old Trails

General Nelson A. Niles returned from Europe a few days ago. and when the reporters swarmed over tEe side of the incoming steamer to inter- view the notables aboard there stood the veteran Indian fighter up along side the rail. the reporters told him about President Roosevelt's wonder ful' feat of riding horseback dis tance Of 9S mies fin i7 hours. "Pisni Cush. and three tushes" said thv vio general That's nothing. once rcde % miles in nine hourse. anu Il put to it. just to show how easy 1t Is. might do the same thing again. Until General Miles punctured it with a tale Of real riding. the exploitation of President Roosevelt's horseback trip into Virginia was along the uavs Iof the greatest achievement Of it's kind in history As a matter Of fact Roosevehs ride would have been con s.dered a mere afternoons jaunt by the sort of men WHO developed horse back riding In this country to fine science. says aa exchange.
 It has been but a few weeks since the Nevada Mining News. in Its by the-bye columns. told the tale of soIns of the real horseback riders of Amer ica-the men of the pony express,
 who annihil4ated distance between St Joe the early western frontier post, and the Pacific slope. The pony ex- press riders were without an equal ID | their day, and their performances nave been unrivaled to tais timse. for speed man-grit and human endurance. The lstories Of what they did seems al most incredible. and were it not for ! the fact that we know that the man
 who has furnished us tire history of
 q few of them knew them personally. and had authenticated their perform lancss. they would seem altogether too lprepcsterous to be given space in q lreputable newspaper.
 Sam Hamilton. one or these riders. each day made the trip between Sac lramento and Fort Churchill, a ais ttance of tSj miles, in q schedule time of 15 hours and % minutes. his route carrying him from the valley of lthc Sacramento. over the high Sierras and out upon the Nevada desert. Bob Haslam, another of the pony riders,
 made a regular daily trip rom Fort
 Churchill to smiths Greek, l20 miles, On one occasion Haslam rode from Virginia City 70 Smiths Creek. 1855
 miles. and after an hours sleep rode the return trip, covering 310 miles
 with only one hour out of the saddle, and made the round trip on schedule time. This performance was especial ly notable because the I20 miles lying between Fort Churchill and Smiths Creek was through a country infested by hostile Indiana. The regular daily performance of K. Richardson, was to
 ride from Ruby Valley to Camp Floyd, Q q d'stance of iS5 miles. These men , rode the extreme western end of the lpOny express route-rode IL hIU=gh a , hostile country. through the snows of . mountains and the sands of the desert, 1 land rode it without any accompaDi- ! menst Of newspaper reporters or snap ; shot photographers. l. was their daIiy , business.
 Over on the eastern end of III, pony
 express route, the two most famous lpony riders were Jonnny Moore anu : Bu Cody c-Buffalo Bill,9. with the record for the most wonderful per:
 formance in pony express annals neio
 by the latter. Johnny Moore rode
 from Muddy Station in Western Ne braska To Jnlesburg. On one occasion , he had finisled this ride. and finding : at Julesburg an important government , dispatch that had to be speeded east
 ward. and there being no rider ready
 to take it on it's way Johnny Moo. @
 rested seven minutes after his ri-e Into Julesbarg, then flung himseIr tt,pou a morse and was away. He CT
 IIised aL Muddy S.ation. having ridden
 tke round trip Jf 9S0 miles iu ytv cisely 15 hours and 40 minuaes. BiI
 iC0dy's daily ride si Is from Red BuS..
 lon the Platte To Three Crossings ol
 the SweetwaIcr, and his schedule re
 quired him to ride lJ miles an hour n through e country filled with hostile ! Indians. Cody once rode from Three e lCrossilgs 10 Red Butte. ana tllr, 9 d being not rider at the latter place C T take the budget on. he eonuuu-u ol
 for another S. niles and then roGt z back to Three Crossings, covering 8 :. total distance of S22 miles or schedule !. time and without being out of tlfs si'l q de except To change mounts.
 General Mics was in the western . country about the time these pony ex
 press riders were making and break
 ling such riding records as the work
 has never known since. and was famil s jar with some of the stories of thess ? performances In the knoyledge of
 them. and Of his own riding feats. h. [ was licensed to pooh-pOoh Theodore [ Rooseyelt's widely advertised acntev''
 ment on horseback. Mfr. Roosevelt |. according to reports. is but fan |, hOrseman Certainly his performance
 of riding SS miles in IT hours, h2vini n four mounts, was nothing to especial u ly commend him; he broke no records t established no new standards.