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Show The Pony Express Released through courtesy of the Utah Historical Landmarks Association, As-sociation, 805 Newhouse Building, Salt Lake City, Utah The settlement of Oregon ana Utah and the discovery of gold in CaMorria quickened the commercial commerc-ial pulse of the country. Speed in handling eommuiu utions brought into existence a romantic figure of the early Wesc th? Pony Express ridei. No old time celebration is complete com-plete today unless a Pony Express -irlev figures in the parade. It is ws'l that thi; owner? of the Pr.iv ii'y ess did not provide a pewsor syWm, for enough riders nave .p-peaied .p-peaied in different parts of the corn-try during the past twe decades dec-ades to wreck, Uii United Sta'cc ft'-.-! Corporation Quite a harmless harm-less role, however, compared with Ou.'er current Coinis of publicity. The history of the pony express system is lost in antiouity. The old Tartar kings originated ihls method of communication centuries centur-ies ago. Marco Polo relates that the stations were twenty-five miles apart and as many as three hundred hund-red miles were covered by a rider in one day. Otn.:r similar enterprises enter-prises were inaugurated in Europe long before tney wye dreamed of in the western world None of this old history, however, cell-acts from the romance of the western Pony Express, which was ,hc- largest and most dangerous, from the viewpc-i .it of money interested in-terested and personal risk involved, of any similar undertaking ever attempted in America. American speed was shown in this organization organiza-tion and a little mo-:: than four months after the project was contemplated con-templated and the plans carried out with "presumed secrecy," riders were dashing over the plvn.., deserts des-erts and mountains. William H. Russell, a leading citizen cit-izen of Leavenworth, Kansas, was1 the prime mover. He was assisted by. Majors and Waddell, his former partners in ihe freighting business. The first pu' chase of Pony Ex-picss Ex-picss horses vas made in Salt Lake City, where Russell p'eked up two hundred care'vjiy selected animals at two hundred dollars each. The riders were lik rwise selected with great care and very few weie chosen chos-en weighing more than one hund red thirty-fiv j pounds. Saddles, bridles and leather pouches were especially constructed for this service serv-ice and the combined weight of the equipment vas thirteen pounds Firearms were reduced to the minimum min-imum and as ; rule only revolver.; we:e carried. TU? entire route was divided into "stages" which were from nine to fifteen miles apart. Each rider v. as presumed to cover three stages, riding three vvrnils in succatfiou, and covering aoout 'thirty-three and one-third mites. Changes in stages were made from time cto time, some riJ3r a W horses covering cov-ering longer distances than others, due to differences in topography, ciimate and .a ftr along the mute At either end of the line, the inauguration in-auguration oi Ihe Pony Express was made a gala affair. St. Joseph, Missouri, was chosen as the eastern point of depvtur :. John A. Frey, h: i i; l -. e.'.i:c."i Pony Express rider, rid-er, leit St. Josepn at a:00 p. m. April 3, ltfou, receiving a send-off by t.icasands Oi people; his departure was announced through the filing oi a cannon. He made a spec- tacular ride to Seneca, a distance ; eignty miles, at an average speed i of twelve and one-half nnies an nour, including pony changes. In Sacramento, western terminus cf the loute, an equally elaborate, celebration announced the departure depart-ure of Henry Roil, the first Pony , Express rider out of Sacramento. , on the same day, April 3rd. Ail ousiness was suspended and the city was decorated for the event. t rey rode a jet black horse out of St. Jcseph; a pure wnit'j steed d:shed out of Sacramj:i:o. Koff cc '.'! ea his first twenty miles in i.fty-nine minutes, changed horses at Folsom in ten seconds and rode on to Placerville, the end of his run. The total distance ridden by Roll was fifty-five miles; time two nours and forty-five minutes, with part cf the country very hilly. There was a long run througn Foit Churchhill, Smith Cr.-ex and on to Sal: lake City, which was reached from the wes- on April 7th and from the east on April 9th. j I'cr t.ic lira time in its history, the west was able to communicate with the Pacific coast and the Atlantic At-lantic coast in a few days. Previous Prev-ious to that time, k required lrom four wee'.s to three months for let-tc: let-tc: s to reacii different parts of the west from the Atianr.c coast. President Lincoln's first inaugural inaugur-al address was catr'ed from St Jcseph to Sacrameri.o, a distance of 1,930 miles, in seven days and seventeen hours. Animals used on t'.ic route have us,i!?.'.!y been referred to as ponies out tney were, ror the most part, fine American horses. Ei'4h'.y riders wetre employed on the route and at tiui';s every one of these men was m the saddle, foity going west and lofty going-east. going-east. It wfis necessary to co 'e 200 miles every twenty-lour hours, day or night, rain or shine. The weight of the letters was limited lim-ited to twenty pou'i Is and the total to-tal weight cf ride:- and equipment wr ; presumed net to exceed 'Tr. p:; . (to. The m id was "sacked" into four equal parts. The mail poi'thes were lock id when delivered deliver-ed to the rider and opened with duplicate keys in the possession cf ofhc'ais at each -aa of the route or at designated atv.ior.s. A charge cf five dollars was for each hall ounce of mail and on this basis each through mail pouch earned twenty-four hundred dollars. Later the rate was reduced to one dollar per half ounce. Leit;'.; were wrapped in oil silk as a protection against swollen streams p.nd heavy rains. Th'j mail was oi mora importam e then the rider and on 0:13 occasion an express rider was Killed and j.ctVyec; but the pony escaped with .he mail which was brought through safrlj to the next station. The pay of Pony Express riders :3.rCd from fifty dollars to one himdied fifty a month, with board. On'. those who performed unusi'al feafi or incurred speC;al risks were paid the top price. Receipts of the Pony Express amounted at times to over a tnous-and tnous-and dollars per day. Notwithstanding Notwith-standing these seemingly high re- eeipts, the service lasted less than eighteen months and resulted in financial' failure. - The Pacific Telegraph Tel-egraph sounded the death knell of the Pony Express, the most romantic roman-tic letter carrier system this country coun-try has ever known. |