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Anniversary ride celebrates glory days of the Pony Express, with high-tech twist By Matt Campbell
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | (MCT)
Riders on horseback now crossing the Great Plains to mark the 150th anniversary of the Pony Express probably would have been fired — for making the slowest run ever.
The nearly 2,000-mile trip between California and St. Joseph, Mo., used to take 10 to 12 days. This one is taking 21 days. But that's only because the riders are stopping for more than two dozen celebrations along the way before the whole thing ends Saturday with a procession through downtown St. Joseph.
Hope there's not a late mortgage payment in those mailbags.
When it began in 1860 the Pony Express was the fastest way to get a letter or newspaper to California, part of the United States but separated from the East by vast wilderness. Tough young men rode horses like the wind, relaying the mail from station to station and then all the way back again.
The alternatives were a southern stagecoach route that took twice as long or a sea journey that took more than a month.
Flash forward.
Today's commemorative Pony Express "re-ride" is being tracked by satellite and the exact position of the mail can be followed continuously on the Internet. Many of the hundreds of men and women riding along for a few miles at a time are posting digital photographs and accounts of their experience.
The overlay of modern technology on a 19th century marvel is wonderful for Tom Crews, who maintains a website that serves as Pony Express central.
"I can sit in my office here in Concord, Calif., and follow it across the country," he said.
It's all good, too, for Lyle Ladner, president of the Kansas chapter of the National Pony Express Association. He was scheduled to accept the handoff of the mailbags Monday and ride with them east toward the Missouri River.
"It's a great deal," Ladner said of the e-coverage. "It helps the riders stay informed as the whole thing is progressing."
For example, on Wednesday last week the mail was about three and a half hours behind schedule after riders were confronted by five culverts that were washed out in Wyoming's South Pass through the Rocky Mountains.
"They started to cross (the pass) after dark last night," Les Bennington reported by cell phone. "We knew there was going to be trouble up there."
Bennington, the national president of the Pony Express association, was set to take on the mailbags just east of Casper. He was hoping the riders could make up some of the lost time.
The riders like to average 10 to 15 mph but sometimes get up to double that. Using a cell phone while riding, Bennington said, "is kind of hard, depending on how fast you're going. You've got to watch where you're going."
Despite its prominence in Western lore, the Pony Express was a mere blip in history. It lasted a year and a half before it was eclipsed by the telegraph.
Riders left St. Joseph once a week to follow a trail to Sacramento. They changed horses every 10 to 12 miles and about every 80 miles handed the mailbags to a fresh rider, one of which was 15-year-old Buffalo Bill Cody.
The Pony Express was used mostly by the government and newspapers. Civil war was looming and timely communication was crucial. The express is credited with helping to keep California and its gold within the Union.
In March 1861 Pony Express riders rushed the text of Lincoln's first inaugural address westward. In October that year the first transcontinental telegraph message sent back east — almost instantaneously — was to Lincoln expressing loyalty to the Union.
"The Pony Express was only good for that short period of time," said Gary Chilcote, director of the Patee House Museum in St. Joseph, which was the headquarters for the Pony Express and is now a National Historic Landmark.
Ladner sees a parallel with modern times.
"If you think about it, the telegraph did to the Pony Express what the Internet is doing now to the Postal Service," he said.
But the Pony Express lives on in the hearts of many. The route, through public and private land, was made a national historic trail in 1992 and every year official riders retrace it, one year east to west and the next west to east. Hundreds of followers join up for segments of the trip.
"I think it's the idea of man and horseflesh against time and the elements and the terrain and the weather," Bennington said of the allure. "Just the challenge of it, to prove it can be done."
Chilcote said some people are sticklers and try to follow the route as closely as they can while others take the nearest highway.
Interest is higher in this sesquicentennial year, as evidenced by the number of towns and station stops along the way that want to make presentations.
The mailbags will be relayed to the final riders who, accompanied by the flags of the eight states through which the Pony Express runs, will parade through St. Joseph to the Patee House, which has been decorated in patriotic bunting.
An orchestra from Missouri Western State University will play a piece especially written for the occasion. Visitors are encouraged to be at the Patee House by 10 a.m. Saturday, although the exact arrival time is uncertain.
The mail, which consists of envelopes with commemorative postmarks purchased beforehand, will then be transferred to the Postal Service for delivery.
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© The Kansas City Star. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. |
Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||
