” Away across the endless dead level of the prairie a black speck appears. In a second or two it becomes a horse and rider…sweeping toward us…another instant a whoop and a hurrah from our upper deck, a wave of the rider’s hand…and man and horse burst past our excited faces, and go winging away like a belated fragment of a storm.” Mark Twain in ‘Roughing It’.
That, in a nutshell, is the phenomenon of the Pony Express rider. We toured the Pony Express museum that is on the site of the original stable in St. Joe. On entering it doesn’t look like much-but there is a very impressive diorama inside. Amazing that his mail service only lasted 18 months, against incredible odds, yet it holds a huge place in the development of the West. When the idea was conceived it took 22 days to get mail/news from NY to SF through the Isthmus of Panama. Not acceptable with the Civil War looming, and the West developing at lightening speed due to the Gold Rush in ’49.
The three partners, Russell, Majors & Waddell obtained a government contact worth $1 million, but they were only able to collect half of that by 1861 when the PE went bankrupt. But that’s not what we remember about it- it’s the daring, danger & romantic tales of the men who pushed their horses and themselves to deliver the locked mochila of mail on time. St. Joe was the logical jumping off point- as that is the farthest Western reach of the railroad, telegraph, and the start of the 4 month journey via wagon across the inhospitable ‘Great American Desert’ through Salt Lake, ending in Sacramento. Immigrants from around the world flocked to this route in search of new lives in the wide-open West.
The pony express riders could deliver their precious cargo from St. Joe to Sacramento in an average of 9 days! When the telegraph lines were completed on this route in 1861 that spelled the end of the Pony Express. But it accomplished its goal of proving that the route west through Salt Lake was the fastest route, and the one that the transcontinental railroad should take.
The most famous riders were ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody and ‘Pony Bob’ -Robert Haslam. Here is an ad for riders: Young, skinny, wiry fellows. Anxious for adventure and chance to see our great WEST. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. $60 Per Month and keep. Makes you want to sign up, doesn’t it?
Leaving St. Joe, we decided that our route should include a stop in Winside, NB to visit our business partner’s parents. So…we headed north through Iowa on 29 just east of the Missouri river. Please send in a donation to the Iowa Highways Department-they could really use it to update their roads!
Yours from the road,
Cathy & William
