Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Megan Taylor Winner Of Seventh Grade DAR Essay

Winners of the 1996-1997 Daughters of the American Revolution essay contest in Prescott Middle School are Jade Hall, fifth grade; Darryl Pickett, sixth grade; Megan Taylor, seventh grade; and Amanda Phillips, eighth grade. This week's essay is written by Megan Taylor. Others will follow weekly, space permitting. The contest is sponsored by the Benjamin Culp Chapter of the DAR.

"Trails West"

The Pony Express Trail

WANTED: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over 18. Must be expert riders willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred.

This ad appeared in newspapers on the western frontier of the United States early in 1860. Do you think that if you saw an ad like this today you would get a lot of response? Surprisingly hundreds of boys answered that ad, all with one hope, to become "pony riders." Only 80 would get their hopes to be "pony riders" answered.

The Pony Express was a mail service which operated between St. Joseph, Missouri, and San Francisco, California, from April 3, 1860, until October 24, 1861. This spectacular experiment in rapid mail delivery was born from a need to speed mail to California. One reason for this is that before "pony riders" and the Pony Express was the "Butterfield Stages," a stagecoach line that took 25 or more days to reach San Francisco. A man named William Hepburn Russell knew this. He believed he knew a way, a faster way, to deliver mail. His way wasn't complex; it was very simple. He felt young men weighing no more than 130 pounds, riding straight west on relays of fast horses could carry mail to California in 10 days. His idea made him the driving force behind the Pony Express. He started mapping out a way from Missouri to Sacramento. After finishing that, he concluded that the mail would be taken by a steamer bound for San Francisco. The cost for this project was a fairly reasonabe price of $100,000.

The mapping out Russell did was fairly simple, but the way the pony Express operated, that's a different story. The entire Pony Express was made up of 190 stations, 500 horses, and 80 riders. All riders had to cover 75-100 miles a day as well as changing mounts every 10-15 miles. Upon getting an engraved Bible the rider had to take an oath made by Russell that states: "I will not, under any circumstances, use profane language; will drink no intoxicating liquors; I will not quarrel or fight with any employees of the firm..." Most importantly they had to be devoted to getting the mail through. On the afternoon of April 3, 1860, hundreds gathered in St. Joseph, Missouri, to see the first rider leave with the mail. Bands played, crowds cheered, and the first "pony rider" galloped out destined for California. The "pony riders" always made sure that the letters were wrapped in silk to keep dry and they they were packed in four small leather packs and strapped to their saddle before they ever left. With all the excitement on april 3, the name of that first rider never got recorded. After going 10 miles the "pony riders" would encounter stations called relay stations. A relay station was a station that at the first sound of hoofbeats or shouts from the rider, the station keeper would saddle a fresh mount for the approaching rider, take it to the stationyard, and wait for the rider to get on before hitting the horse. All of this would have to be done in 2 minutes! Every 75-100 miles a rider would encounter a station called a swing station. A swing station supplied a place to eat and sleep between runs. Riders received a salary of $125 a month plus bed and board. The most constant enemy of the "pony riders" was the weather on the western frontier.

Some of the most famous men in the history of the American west rode for the Pony Express. Those men included: William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody; "Buffalo Bill" started at age 15, James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickock, Johnny Frey and Joseph Alfred "Jack" Slade. On the Pony Express, horses were considered heroes as well. Most of the horses they used were wild mustangs that were "broken" by professional cowboys. A jet-black mustang called Black Billy once brought a rider into a station. The rider had been said to have been attacked by Indians and few miles back.

"Pony riders" had to face many hardships while delivering the mail. Even with those hardships, only one delivery was ever lost. Some hardships included: desert sands under blistering suns, blizzards and drifting snow sometimes buried a horse up to the shoulders, and other times a rider would have to lead his mount gingerly over narrow trails through the cliffs of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. But even with the weather there was something even worse, Indian Wars! The wars flared upon the frontier. When the Pony Express started, the Indians were at peace with the settlers. Shortly after the first run wars broke out in what is now Nevada. The Pony Express stations would sometimes be found in flames. Even with hardships the Pony Express stations still made incredible journeys. The Pony Express delivered President Abraham Lincoln's inaugural address in a record breaking 7 and a half days from Missouri to Sacramento. Mark Twain, a famous American author, was lucky enough to see a "Pony Rider."

After 18 months in mail delivery, the Pony Express ended on the completion of the telegraph. The day Pony Express ended its service, a Sacramento newspaper called the "Bee" published this sad farewell: "Our little friend the pony is to run no more. Farewell forever, thou staunch wilderness-overcoming, swift-footed messenger... Rest on your honors; be satisfied with them your destiny has been fulfilled a new and higher power has superseded you."

Now the Pony Express is gone, but the boy heroes who risked their lives speeding mail over the wilderness will always be remembered in the west.