Omaha daily bee., 1909-01-22
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not push the animals very hard for the
first twenty-five miles, which distance we
had covered by 6 p, m, This brought US
to Knngfisher creek. where we halted for
one hour-unsaddled, got something to eat,
let the horses roll and Craze, then groomed
their backs and legs, saddled and started
again at Z p. m.
I'VE walked for thirty minutes, trotted
fifty minutes and then dismounted and
rested ten minutes; mounted and went at
the trot for fifty minutes, dismounted, and
walked ten minutes. This rotation OF fifty
minute trotting periods and ten-minute
rests was kept up until midnight. when
there was a twenty-minute halt, followed
by the same rotation until 4:O a. m. when
there was a halt for one hours sleep. An
other grooming of legs and backs followed
the sleep and then the grind was resumed."
The 15O-Mue Ride Completed.
And so II went, until after thirty-one
hours. all told, the troopers reached Ar
kansas City, 100 miles from camp. What
happened to the dishonest deserter does
not appear in the record.
"At that time continued Captain Wood,
"our mounts were purchased In Missouri
and Kansas. The horse 1 rode was II years
Did; the others were a little younger. All
| the horses except one were III SOOu COnQl-
ton on our return. That one had been
made unserviceable by bad riding. The
trooper who had him was not a very good
horseman and rode too heavily forward l
tried to correct him. but it is impossible
to teach all the niceties of Workmanship
on a trip like that. 1t was the hardest
ride I ever had
Some Of the famous rides by westerners
not I'm the army occurred in San Fran
| cisco, where N. H. Mowry, with relays of
many horses, did 300 miles in fourteen
| hours on a race track in 1855. Ten years
before that j. Powers made $50 miles in
six hours and forty-three minutes, and
there is a tradition that a rider named
Anderson covered 1904 miles in ninety
hours.
Pony Express Riders.
Among the pony express riders, F. y.
Aubrey undoubtedly held the record. On a
wager OF 5000 he undertook TO ride from
sante Fe to Independence, Missouri, a dis
lance Of 800 miles, inside of six days, He
did It in five days and nineteen hours. He
had a dozen fresh horses waiting for him
at different points along the line. and COW
cred most of the distance at a gallop.
Jim Moore rode "A mail route from Mid
way station TO Julesburg, a distance of
40 miles. 1t was his regular custom to
make the round trip OF 30 miles once a
week. On one occasion the other rider on
that route was i'll, and to keep tn sche-
dule unimpaired, Moore not only did dou
BILE duty, but in less than half the time
he usually took for his weeks work. He
rode the go miles in twenty-five hours.
President Lincoln's first inaugural mes
sage was carried from st. Joseph. Mo, to
Sacramento, Cal, a distance of 1880 miles,
in seven days and seventeen hours. The
news of the firing on Fort Sumter was
carried from ST. Joseph to Denver, about
675 miles, in sixty-nine hours, the riders
riding night and day. stopping only to
change ponies, the time allowance for
which diversion was about two minutes.
That was in the days of the old pony
express some OF the riders of which
made records that still tand. Jack
Keetly, for instance. has a record of $40
miles, without rest or sleep, in thlrty-one
hours and Jim Moor has g record of 80
miles in fourteen hours and forty-six Sec
onds. Bill James had a eo-mile route and
made the round trip, 40 miles, in twelve
hours. and seldom came in more than a
few seconds off schedule time. The sche-
duie OF the old pony express called for
something like 25O miles every twenty hours
and the riders usually made II.