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Tuesday, July 06, 2010
028 - Wanted: skinny, wiry fellows. Orphans preferred.
Although we think we live in a constantly changing world today, the arrival of the trans-continental railroad in the late 1860’s, marked the most amazing change in American lives, imaginable.
A year earlier, it took about four months to cross the continental United States. After the transcontinental railroad completion, it took four days. Amazing.
The vast size of America was always a problem for our young country.
And enterprising people were always trying to figure out ways to shorten up the amount of time it took for folks to connect with each other.
The telegraph helped a lot with at least providing a way to get messages across parts of the country. Very limited, though. And very expensive.
One of those attempts to tie the country together was the famous Pony Express. And it followed a familiar cross-country route through a part of America that 30 years later would become the state of Wyoming.
That noble experiment was the true forerunner of the famous motto of today’s Federal Express “If It Absolutely, Positively Has To Be There . . .”
By using hundreds of horses and young men (including 16-year old Buffalo Bill Cody), this service provided a way to send a package or a letter across the country, some 1,966 miles, in just ten days. Because trains were already in existence in the eastern part of the USA, the route traveled from St. Joseph, MO to Sacramento, CA.
It was considered almost a miracle back in those times and was a service that was used extensively and loved by those using it for about a year and a half.
This year is the 150th anniversary of the Pony Express and Wyoming is home to 39 of those Pony Express “stations,” as they were called. Some had colorful names like Bed Tick, Needle Rock, Rocky Ridge, Big Sandy, Little Sandy and Dry Sandy. There were 157 stations across the West.
Most have totally disappeared although you can re-live some of the experience of spending time in locations such as Split Rock which is between Muddy Gap and Lander near the town of Jeffrey City. Farther west is a marker at Pacific Springs on the top of South Pass. It was called that because to many of the Oregon Trail travelers, this was the first water they saw on the west side of the Continental Divide, hence, headed toward the Pacific Ocean.
There are good markers at Fort Laramie, Fort Bridger, Devil’s Gate, Independence Rock and Granger, too.
The service was only in place for about 18 months and some 183 young men were known to have ridden the route. The service started a century and a half ago and ran day and night, summer and winter. It stopped in 1861 when its backers were $200,000 in the hole, because a government contract did not come through and the Civil War started.
Historian Phil Roberts of Laramie says the telegraph, which was completed cross-country in an astonishingly quick time of four months in 1861, also helped finish off the Pony Express.
Want ads in California newspapers read: "Wanted. Young, skinny, wiry fellows. Not over 18. Must be expert riders. Willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred."
Most riders were around 20. Youngest was 11. Oldest was mid-40s. Not many were orphans. Typical rider weighed around 120 pounds. They were paid $100 per month, a small fortune to these boys.
The horses traveled 10 miles per hour and a new horse was provided every 10 to 15 miles. The riders traveled 75 to 100 miles during their shift.
The most famous ride was by young Buffalo Bill who exchanged horses at Split Rock and rode, in record time, from Red Buttes Station to Rocky Ridge. He was forced to go extra legs because of the death of another rider. Cody ultimately covered 322 miles in 21 hours using 21 horses.
The route pretty much followed the historical trails route, encompassing the Oregon Trail and the Mormon Trail, plus a number of other early trails.
More than 350,000 people traveled those trails by walking, wagon train or handcart as they followed the young country’s claim of Manifest Destiny as they moved west.
The smallest part of all this was the Pony Express, but it may have been the most colorful.
A re-enactment of the Pony Express rides was just completed the end of last month, which included riders participating across Wyoming, visiting most of those colorful “stations.”
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