The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1922-09-15
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of the West and the Il
Special messengers, bearers Of
letters to connect with the Ex-
press Of the 3rd OF April, will re-
ceive communications for the cour-
ricr of that day at No. 4S1 Tenth
Street. Warrington City, up to
2:45 p. m. on Friday, March 80,
and in New York at the office Of
J. B. Simpson, Room No. 8, Con-
tinental Bank Building, Nassau
Street, up to $3.50 a. m. of March
81.
Full particulars can be obtained
on application at the above places
from agents Of the company.
w. H. RUSSELL, President.
Leavenworth City, Kan, Mar, 1850.
While buying horses for the ex-
press, Russell did not neglect the
careful selection of experienced
stage men for the enterprise or the
employing Of suitable men for rid
ers. Among the capable transpor-
tation men whom he employed, all
of whom were familiar with the
western routes west of the Mis-
souri,, were Ben Ficklin, Jim Brom-
ley, John Scudder and the after
wards notorious Jack Slade, who
was hanged by the Vigilantes at
Virginia City, Montana, four years
later. All of these were frontiers
men of nerve and energy, and it
was largely due to their services
that Russell was able to launch his
great enterprise, which preceded
the daily four-horse stage-coach,
opened the way for the telegraph
and, finally, for the railroad across
the continent to the Golden Gate.
Start Of First Express Rider
Celebrated in Fitting Manner
Most of the animals bought for
the pony enterprise were distribut-
ed along the route at intervals of
nine to fifteen miles, according to
the nature of the country. Each
rider was supposed to ride three
animals in succession, traversing
three stages" and to 60 at least
thirty-three miles. The riders were
young and hardy, and were select
ed for their light weight. None
weighed more than l35 pounds.
The saddle, bride and leather
pouch used for carrying the mail
were light and durable, the combin-
ed weight of the three being only
Is pounds.
St. Joseph was chosen as the
point of departure for the Pony
Express, and the start proper was
made from the Patee House, a fam
Gus old hosiery. The signal for
starting was the firing of a cannon
and while the sound was echoing
through the town the rider was
speeding up the street on his way
to the office of the company. Cat
ching the pouch of mail, the rider,
Johnny Frey, rode onto the ferry,
and as the boat touched land on the
other side the first messenger dash
ed off toward the setting sun. Thus
was initiated an enterprise that did
much to hurry forward the span
ming of the continent by telegraph
wire and iron rail. The new sched-
ale of mail delivery beat all pre-
vious records across the plains to
California by nearly two weeks.
Frey's horse was jet black, and
1t the same hour he left St. Joseph
another rider, Harry Rolf, left
Sacramento on the first stage east
ward. While the event was cele-
brated with much enthusiasm at St.
Joseph, the celebration at Sacra-
nento was on a much more elabor-
ate scale. The merchants subscrib-
ID a liberal amount and the streets
we're gaily decorated with flags and
banners. Thousands of people
came in from the gold fields and
business was suspended for the
lay. From surrounding hills can
non doomed during the afternoon,
bands played on the city streets
and orators made speeches. It was
The proudest day in the history of