By BARTLETT BODER

April 3, 1860, a Pony Express rider on a bay mare named Sylph, the Majors and Waddell, which con­ daughter of Little Arthur, galloped from the Pike's Peak Stables, now trolled a staging and freighting empire out of Leavenworth, Atchi­ known as the Pony Express Stables and either directly or with interven­ \ ing stops, proceeded to the ferry ;t the foot of either Jules or Francis son, St. Joseph, and Nebraska streets, and was ferried across the Missouri River, where in the gloaming City. Majors had been freighting he dashed, no fooling. into immortal glory, bearing his precious burden out of Independence, Missouri, for Sacramento and the Golden Gate. since 1848, supplying military gar­ risons on the Western frontiers. The railroad engine, Missouri, hauling one passenger coach bearing In 185'5, he joined William H. t~e ~ail_ messenger from New York, Detroit, and Washington, arriv~d. Russell and they continued to ex­ pigm~anes in top hats were also passengers. The train due to arrive pand, first under the name of m Saint Joseph at 5 o'clock in the afternoon didn't arrive on time. Majors and Russell and in 1858, It had been forced to await the late arrival of the mail messenger from the partnership became Russell, the east, hence its delay in reaching Saint Joseph. Majors and Waddell. The outlines of the history of the Pony Express are usually much The wagon trains of the partners the s_ame no matter what author writes the story, though at San from Leavenworth accompanied Francisco and Sacramento no skeleton of fact is surfaced more com­ the first western contingent of the ple_tely with fable, fancy, and fiction than its parallel story as told in 5,000 regular army troops of Brig. Samt Joseph. On the eve of the War of Secession, and in its begin­ General Albert Sidney Johnson. Riders Billy Fisher, Michael M. Whalen and Erastus Egan (son of Major Howard Egan) ning, no city in the United States suffered more from fraternal dis­ They spent a very disastrous winter at Fort Bridger, Wyoming, orders than Saint Joseph; record's and newspapers were blH'ned or This photograph was given t o the Saint Joseph Museum a few years ago by Billy Fisher's daug hter, stolen, and the drama and sheer poetry of this great adventure was losing most of their oxen and the lost to men. freight as well. The next year, Mrs. Minnie Fisher Ellsworth who resides in Oakland, California. Fisher was, a native of England and the army proceeded to Camp Floyd, a Latter Day Saint as was Ma jor Howard Ega n, father of Erastus Egan. Major Egan had explored We don't know positively who was the first rider out of 1Saint Joseph. south of Salt Lake City where it t-he route from south of Salt Lake City across the parched desert of present Nevada to Carson. We don't know the exact mileage on the trail which followed mostly remained until the War of Seces­ Billy Fisher and Erastus Egan were Pony riders on t his route by way of Ruby Va lley and Fort the faded: old tracks of the Forty-niners. We do know that these sion began. Churchill. It was ca,lled Egan's route after the ma jor, who was division superintendent for the plucky young horsemen sometimes found soft riding on the mounds The three partners, on N ovem­ separating the two scars across the plains, the scars made by the ber 23, 1859, incorporated the Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company owner of the Pony Express. Most of lumbermg conestogas of the freighters. Central Overland California and the Pony riders on this division were Latter Day Saints and the Pah-Ute Indians liked and respected Pike's Peak Express Company at them. Brigham Young had always befriended the Ind ians. When the Pah-Ute war began about a We do know that often they averaged ten miles an hour between Leavenworth, Kansas. It was cap­ some stations, and that they rode in stormy darkness when only the month after the Pony Express did, the Mormon riders did not suffer too badly at the hands of the italized at $500,000.00. Russell Indians. Some white men, not Saints, had kidnapped two Indian squaws and kept them in ~aptivity. flash~s of lightning permitted them to see their horses ears; and in owned $375,000 worth, three­ the light of day when they became the moving targets of whooping fourths of the corporation. Ma­ This brought on the war which was costly to the Pony Express. archers craving their scalps. We can well believe that on April 4, j ors, Waddell, John S. Jones and 1860, the second rider east of Placerville, California, heading for Genoa, John W. Russell owned the rest. was 1,000 miles shorter than the quote: and in Fulton Street, New York. ~ade 90 miles in 131/2 hours in the heaviest snow of the season in the This company established its head­ Butterfield stagecoach route, was "The bill introduced by Mr. Secretary of War, Floyd gave con­ Si~rra Nevada mountains. He was Warren Upson, a Sacramento quarters at the Patee House in also a feasible route when deep Colfax, in Congress having in view tracts to Russell's firm, and for editor's. son. Once, a rider lost his scalp, but the Pony escaped with Saint Joseph, a luxurious hotel snows were on the mountains. By a revision of the overland mail services rendered by them gave the mail to the next station. While we cannot be sure which of several which was begun by John Patee succeeding in this, the partners service, becomes a matter of in­ "Acceptances" of more than two riders, Johnny Fry, Henry Wallace, Billy Richardson, Alex Carlyle, in 1856. It was at Twelfth and hoped to secure the exclusive mail terest. Mr. Colfax has been as­ million dollars. Congress failed to or John Burnett carried the first mail out of Saint Joseph, we are Penn streets. Ben Holladay, a contract to California, the one then sured by reliable parties that daily appropriate for this money spent reasonably sure that it was Johnny Fry who rode the last sixty miles great freighter, lent the firm the held by the Butterfield interests mail service between St. Louis and by the War Department. The of the home stretch from the west with the California and Salt Lake Pike's Peak stables near Tenth and with four years yet to go. San Francisco can be performed Postmaster General while using mail, the eastern finish of the longest relay race ever run in America. Penn streets for the use of its In September 1949, this writer for less than one million dollars, the Pony Express facilities to the The last stretch after he came into view he made in one minute and Pony Express in 1860. The pas­ visited the Bancroft Library at the that is, for one and a quarter very limit, and to his great ad­ fifty seconds to the ferry boat, Denver, on the Kansas shore. Five senger station of the Hannibal and Univ. of California at Berkeley. million less than now paid for vantage, couldn't contribute one thousand persons lined the bank on the Missouri side and awaited his Saint Joseph railroad was south Miss Bancroft showed us the fol­ semi-weekly service. penny towards support of the Pony arrival. lowing statement in the San Fran­ Express, and continued to spend of Eighth and Olive streets on the "I should be sorry to see Messrs. Pony route from the Patee House cisco Bulletin of April 10, 1860 huge sums on the mails carried The Pony Express was the culmination of a struggle to the death which gives the true score. At that Wells and Butterfield superceded, by the Butterfield Line. Due to between two great overland stage and mail corporations, and the men and the Pike's Peak Stables, to the but the difference is too great. ferry landing on the Missouri river. time three days · before the first the failure of the government to who operated them. The southern Butterfield Overland route, called pony arrived in California from There is little hope for continuance meet its obligations, Russell now the Ox-Bow route to San Francisco from Saint Louis, passed through The Pony Express was a grand of the old Butterfield contract be­ effort by the firm to prove to the Saint Joseph, the Bulletin thought badly in need of funds, tri~d to Fort Smith, El Paso and Los Angeles on the way to San Francisco. that Russell Majors and Waddell's yond July." The Joh~ Butterfield interests had had:, since 1858, the exclusive right government and the country that save himself and his partners from the Central Overland Pony Ex­ firm had succeeded in its purpose In their operating arrangements, ruin. Through influences within of carrying United States mail to San Francisco under a six year to obtain Butterfield's contract. We Russell had offices in Washington contract. Pitted against Butterfield was the great firm of Russell, press route to California, which the administration unknown to us Page 4 Page 5 now, he secured $870,000 of gov­ Central Overland route from Pla­ operating executive who went into ernment bonds from the Depart­ cerville, California east, with its the Pony Express with regret, but ment of the Interior ear-marked superintendent in charge of the ,did so in order to carry out the as Indian funds. He borrowed whole route, including Ben Holla­ firm's pledge to Senator William money on them from New York day's eastern half. The Pony Ex­ W. Gwin of California made by banks. The banks would no longer press continued to operate for Russell. Once the word of the lend on the "Acceptances" of the about seven months more. firm had been given, he backed it War Department. The news of 'Dhe post-office depar tment held up, though he thought that Russell this transaction became a major sacred its six year contract with was too daring. Majors feat of sensation throughout the nation. the Overland Mail Company and arranging the details for the Pony Russell was arrested in his New John Butterfield, its president, Express in 60 days compares York office in December 1860 and from the ,date the first stagecoach favorably with the work of any indicted by the grand jury in the left Tipton, Missouri in 18'58 for great military tactician. He bore District of Columbia. California, until it expired, June the title of colonel. A Kentuckian 30, 1864. This included the period by birth, he was a gentleman in In January, 1861, the partners after the Overland Mail Company the better sense. He gave to each Russell, Majors and Waddell strip­ took over the Central Overland pony rider a small Bible with the ped themselves of their possessions route early in 1861. firm's name on it, upon which each by making assignments for the took an oath of good behavior and benefit of creditors. This included In Washington, William H. Rus­ sell was never brought to trial. loyalty to the company. He felt a their stock in the Central Overland Secretary of War John B. Floyd moral obligation for the welfare of all who worked for him. California and Pike's Peak Express fled to Virginia. Lincoln was PONY EXPRESS STALLS AT Company and the Pony Express to President, and the War of Seces­ After the Pony Express changed FORT BRID GER, WYOMING Ben Holladay. March 2, 1861 the sion was on. managers early in 1861, it con­ This was not a home st ation but a relay station Overland Mail Company was Alexander Majors tinued to operate with shortening FORT BRIDGER whe re t he Po ny Express riders chang ed horses and went on. moved by the government to the Alexander Maj ors was the able distances, and finally ceased with Named for Jim Bridger, pioneer trapper and guide in Wyoming. It has numerous mement os of Pony Express days of which this covered wagon is o ne. Ph oto 1953 by Mrs. V. P. Soder

the completion of telgraph lines by the Central route. Mr. Russell only one passenger coach arrived V :, to the Pacific. Ben Holladay five hurriedly returned west. He met from Palmyra, Missouri with the year s later sold his interests in his partners Alexander Maj ors and mail messenger aboard. The start [~ the Central Overland California William B. Waddell at Leaven­ proper was made from the original \ and Pike's Peak Express Company worth, Kansas. Pike's Peak stables, south of Patee acquired from Russell, Maj ors and Park in Saint Joseph according to ~ Wad dell to Wells-Fargo for re­ Committed to the enterprise by Chris L. Rutt, St . Joseph historian. portedly $2,000,000 only to lose Russell, the three par tner s pro­ The restored building is now 'wANTED most of this fort une himself later ceeded to incorporate the Central known as the Pony Express stables. on. Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company in Kansas Territory, with capitol of five CALIFORNIA GREETED YOUNG KINNY . WIRY FELLOWS HOW IT ALL BEGAN hundred thousand dollars. Their stage line from Atchison to Salt THE PONY E XPRESS Back in 1859, t here were three Lake City was also turned over mail routes to California. The by t he partners to the new com­ When the last westward bound ...... ,eighteen. Must be expert great bulk of the mail was sent pany, which purchased the Chor­ Pony Express rider and his horse by ships by way of the Isthmus of penning stage line and mail con­ reach ed Sacramento late in the Panama on a twenty-two day tract from Salt Lake City to Sac­ afternoon of April 13, 1860 they willing to risk death daily . .. schedule from New York to San ramento. They turned over to the were escorted into town by a Francisco. The Butterfield route Central Overland company the cavalcade of riders and their from Saint Louis and Memphis to Leavenworth and Denver daily hor ses. They had met the Pony WAGES San Francisco by way of El Paso stage line across Kansas Territory Express out at Sutter's fort east ~s preferred. $25.per and Los Angeles carried through to the Pike's Peak region. of town. The Pony Express rider mail and stage coach passengers, and his horse were nearly suf­ while the Central route west from Neither Majors nor Waddell was focated with dust stirred up by Apply, Central O'Oerl~nd E#t- the Missouri river carried only an officer in the Central Overland t he wildly racing animals which local mail. In California these California and Pike's Peak Ex­ got in front of t he business-like arrangements were not satisfac­ press Company. They did not mail carrier. Sacramento had de­ pre,,, Alta Bldg.~ Montgomer1 St. tory, for in case of a war of approve of Russell's Pony Express clared a holiday. Telegrams from secession both t he Butterfield venture in t he first place and may Carson had given the tidings. Overland route and the Panama have declined the offices. The Bands were out, top hatted digni­ route would be liable to inter­ officers were William H. Russell, taries were out, as they had been ruption. president, and his son John W. in Saint Jo, and, Spanish style, / I/ Called to Washington in con­ Russell, secretary. Jerome B. t he women and girls stood or sat nection with t heir government mail Simpson of New York was vice­ in balconies. Hamilton, the rider, contracts, William H. Russell of president. was noisily escorted to the Alta Russell, Majors and Waddell, over­ Telegraph office where the Sacra­ 4 · land freighters and stagecoach op­ From Saint Joseph, the start of mento mail was delivered. Tele­ t erators, was approached by Sena­ the Pony Express westward began grams had again reached the office Advertisement appearing ' i"J / tor Gwin of California about in­ as soon as the Hannibal and Saint from Placerville telling that all was '1fKit Carson as his guide. read in part as follows : When he got back to Washington TO SAN FRANCISOO IN EIGHT DAYS his wife Jessie, who was a gifted by writer, helped write his report The Central Overland California which was widely acclaimed. and California, still a province of Pike's Peak Express Mexico, was included in his second objective. He explored Salt Lake The first courier of the Bony Express will leave the Missouri and reached the Sierra Nevada River on Tuesday, April 3rd, ait mountains in the d'ead of winter. 5 o'clock p.m., and will run regu­ With his 24 men he suffered great larly weekly thereafter, carrying hardships but got to Sacramento THE DENVER a lett-er mail only. The point of departure on the MLssouri River in March 1844. He was received This was the ferryboat which at 7:30 P.M. on April 3, 1860 carried the bay mare and the first will be in telegraphic communica­ by Captain John August Sutter pony rider out of Saint Joseph and across the Missouri river into Kansas Territory at Elwood. The ,tion with the East and will be Denver on a smaller scale was the prototype of the river steamer Antelope which carried the Pony who had secured vast land holdings announced in due time. from the Mexican government. Express mail back and forth on the Sacramento river between Sacramento and San Francisco. After Telegraphic messages from all the initial runs the incoming horse from the west was left in a stall at Elwood and the horseless parts of the United States and Sutter, a Swiss, had also bought rider with his mochila crossed to Saint Joseph on the ferryboat. Canada, in connection with the Bodega Bay from Russia. Fre­ point of departure will be re­ mont returned by the way of Bents would reach Sacramento on time corner of Merchant and Montgom­ ceived up to .5 o'clock p.m. of the day of leaving, and transmitted Fort on the Arkansas river. Hear­ from Missouri. ery streets with singing and danc­ over the Placerville and St. Jo­ rived in St. Louis. With the War The side-wheeler steamboat An­ ing and music by the band. The seph telegraph wire to San Fran­ with Mexico approaching, Seator telope was waiting at its levee in fun lasted until near daybreak of cisco and intermediate points, by Benton got congress to appropriate the Sacramento river. With wild April fourteenth. the connecting express in eight days. money for a third Fremont ex­ cheers the rider, his pony and the The Pony Express after thirteen The letter mail will be deliver­ pe:iition. Fremont secured sixty San Francisco mail were escorted years had answered California's ed in San Francisco in ten days armed men and Kit Carson again. aboard. The whistle tooted but from the departure of the Ex­ Soon he received word from Sena­ not enough to waste steam and great need. At hand were tele­ pres,s. The Express passes thru grams that had taken only ten Forts Kearny, Lammie, and tors Benton and James G. Buchan­ down the river she went as fast days from New York and Washing­ Bridger, Great Salt Lame City, an that war was about to begin. as her two paddle wheels could Camp Floyd, Carson City, the Fremont moved on to Monterrey take her. The tired rider and his ton to arrive and as Saint Joseph Washoe SilV'er Mines, Placerville, with his California battalion which mount got some rest, maybe, until on the east had a telegraph office and Sacramento. and Carson and Placerville had Letters for Oregon, Washing­ included American California set­ all the steamers in San Francisco telegraph offices connecting with ton Territory, British Columbia, tlers. He took an American ship bay began tooting a welcome. the Pacific Mexican ports, Rus­ to Los Angeles which he captured Sacramento and San Francisco, sian possession,s, Sandwich Is­ in 1846. From then on he was a JES1SIE BENTON FREMONT messages by magic wires had taken lands, China, J,apan, and India hero in California. WAS THERE only the time the horses could will be mailed in San Francisco. gallop from Old Saint Jo to the In the Saint Joseph Weekly He accepted the s:.irrender of the PONY EXPRESS SADDLE West published April 7, 1860 in Mexican government early in 1847 No carriages were to be allowed Sierra Nevada mountains. Saint Joseph by F. M. Posegate This saddle with its overlaying mochila was presented to the Saint Joseph Museum by the Wyeth on Market and Montgomery streets while the pony mail was headed and served as civil governor of Company many years ago. At the same time a similar one was presented to the History Room of in San Francisco the night of the A San Francisco newspaper ac- for California, the time schedule California for two months. Gold the Wells Fargo Bank at San Francisco where it is also exhibited. The Museum saddle has recently count appeared on April 14, 1860: for the first run w8Js listed as was discovered at Sutter's Mill at been removed to the Pony Express stables where it will be part of a collection of items pertaining parade of welcome. There were to the time·s of the Pony Expres~. great cries of protest when a follows from Saint Joseph: Coloma early in January 1848, a "The pony having been trotted Marysville, 12 hours; Fort Kear­ Dr. Arthur Woodward, retired director of the Los Angeles County Museum told us ten years ago carriage appeared: with a distin­ ny, 34 hours; Fort Laramie, 80 year before the gold rush of the that the correct way to prcnounce mochila is as though it were spelled mokela. Doctor Woodward guished-looking woman in the back into the center, the procession hours; Fort Bridger, 10 8 hours; 49ers. · told us the name came to us from New Mexico and is Spanish. moved up to the office of the Gr,eat Salt Lake, 124 hours; The saddle manufacturing department of the Wyeth Company was only discontinued on December seat of the open Phaeton. (See Camp Floyd, 1.28 hours; Carson Prior to that, Fremont had pur­ illustration on back cover) Alta Telegraph Company at the chased seventy square miles of the I, 1958. Mr. John Wyeth, the I 00 year old firm's president, tells us that the saddle makers all got corner of Montgomery and Mer­ City, 188 hours; Placerville, 226 so old that they had to retire and no younger craftsmen were available. The firm still sells saddles The officials discovered it was hours; Sacramento, 234 hours; Sierra foothills known as the wholesale. B. B. Jessie Benton Fremont, wife of chant streets, in the following San Francis,co, 240 hours. Mariposa estate. In a short time order: John C. Fremont, and permission JE!SSIE BENTON FREMONT Fremont's income from the gold was hurriedly given for her to d'iggings became enormous. He California band playing "S,ee the .. AND THE PONY EXPRESS .. vania by a popular vote of Her husband, like William H. follow in line. Conquering Hero Comes" acquired large real estate holdings 1,838,169 to 1,341,264. By his Russell and Ben Holladay, took too A woman rushed out from the Engine Company No. 2; in :San Francisco. And in 1850 Hook and Ladder Company No. 2; Lieutenant John C. Fremont, daring mismanagement he frit­ many chances. It brought them crowd, placed her bonnet on the he was elected United States tered away his vast wealth. His all to financial disaster. head of the tired pony and tied Engine Company No. 5. United States Corps of Engineers, senator. Engine Company No. 6. The fire had been married to Jessie Benton lovely Missouri wife, Jessie Ben­ the ribbon under his neck. wagons were well mounted and He was born in Charleston, S. C. ton, stood with him loyally. It Though already thirty-four years lighted, the firemen bearing torches. in Washington, October 19, 1841. old Colonel John C. Fremont, after Many accounts say that the rider out of wedlock and this may have was her great popularity in 1San The Pony Express, a bay horse The marriage was performed by his capture of Los Angeles in the and his "pony" arrived in San with Spanish saddle, the rider a Catholic priest. Jessie was the given him the neurotic energy Francisco and 'California that en­ Francisco shortly before midnight James Hamilton, his mochilas which was his eventual undoing-. abled her to be driven in her war with Mexico, rode horseback daughter of United States senator to Monterrey, California. The first of April 13, 1860, the mail being stuffed with letters brought overland. Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri. In 1856 he was nominated at Phil­ carriage to Montgomery and Mer­ from Saint Joseph a few hours Citizens on foot and mounted adelphia for president by the new chant streets when the first Pony day he rode 12'5 miles, the second followied. Already a famous explorer and day the same distance, the third more than ten days en route. map maker, Fremont was then Republican party, its first candi­ Express mail was arriving from There was much speech making This stirring welcome of the placed in charge in 1842 of an date. He was beaten by James Sacramento. Carriages had been day he rode eighty miles and that at the Alta Telegraph office at the Pony Express in San Francisco exploratory expedition to the Wind Buchanan, Democrat of Pennsyl- forbidden that night. fourth day entered Monterrey at Page 8 Page 9 St. Joseph. A story of his life with photographs is contained in 1951 Winter number of this magazine. Commodore Stockton had about the same temperament as John C. Fremont. He was self-confident, impulsive and missed no opportun­ ity to glorify himself. On his flagship Congress he had reached Monterey on July 15, 1846. There he issued a dramatic war time proclamation which alienated the Mexican friends that his pre­ decessor, Commodore Sloat, had made. He assumed command of land operations and enrolled the Bear Flag battalion of John C. Fremont. The Bear Flag Cali­ fornians from the states wanted to make California an independent republic such as was Texas. Stockton was relieved of his post for his belligerent acts and return­ ed to Washington overland. He STEAM ENGINE "MISSOURI" resigned from the navy as Fremont had. from the army. Their un­ It was the locomotive which made the dash across the state of Missouri April 3, 1860. The smoke­ restrained power in California haid gone to their heads. stack reminded peop,le of Jenny Lind's hoop skirts, only upside down, and such smokestacks were Despite his trouble with the called Jenny Linds, after the Swedish Nightingale. administration at Washington John C. Fremont was elected United States Senator when California was admitted to the Union in 1850 for the two year short term. It was not until eight years later that decent mail service from the east­ CHIMNEY ROCK it is, a striking landmark of the Pony Express trail in northwest Nebraska. It can be seen for miles ern states was furnished Cali­ and miles in its spectacular beauty. Earlier it was on the Old Oregon trail. fornia in 1858 by the Wells Butter­ Photo by DON REYNOLDS three in the afternoon after a late that Jessie Benton Fremont, his fur-trading founder of Saint Jo­ field interests with their Overland start. He made equally good1 time wife, was welcome at the Pony seph, and her father, Missouri's Mail Company. Hamilton Spencer, D. N. Barney, THE PONY EXPRESS returning. He used relays of Express night-time reception cere­ Senator Benton, were very warm On the incorporation of the William B. Dinsmore and John monies in San Francisco. Overland Mail Company the di­ Butterfield who was elected presi-­ California mustangs accompanied friends. Senator Benton had years rectors were: William G. Fargo, dent. He resigned in 1860. HEADS EAST by two aides. He thereby set an Jessie Benton Fremont had an­ before often interceded' for Joseph example to the Pony Express riders Robidoux in the dealings he had other connection with the Pony The first rider out of San of thirteen years later. No wonder Express. Joseph Robidoux, the with the various Indian agents. Francisco and his mount left the Alta Telegraph office before 4 P. M., April 3, 1860. They scampered to the wharf and boarded the river steamer Ante­ lope bound for Sacramento and due A PONY EXPRESS WAS NEEDED to leave at 4 o'clock. ':Dhe rider was James Randall, said to be an experienced horseman. He could not resist the temptation to trails of the Central :mostly marines, marched on Los a lieutenant colonel. General Overland California and Pike's Peak Expres/s Company. Not far away on the bank of the North Harry Roff? No, to Billy Ham­ had taken with him from New Angeles and accepted the surrender Kearny was the great grandfather Platte River was Robidoux Fort, a trading post operated by Michel Robidoux of Saint Joseph. ilton. So the confusion about the Mexico only 100 dragoons. At of that town June 10, 1848. Three of Judge Stephen Kearny Owen of In the early 1850s Robidoux became a trader at Fort Bridger across the line in present Wyoming. first Pony Express rider east is Page 10 Page 11 about as bad as that at old Saint : • THERE WERE THREE Jo going west. JOHN FRYS N'ew Shod; Roate to t!ie Ea.st, North and South ' ' One was killed by Quantrill FROM SACRAMEN'DO EAST BY THE guerillas at Baxter Springs, Ar­ kansas, October 6, 1863, during the In his memoirs, Seventy Years :EANNIBAL &. ST. JOSEPH War of Secession. One was killed On The Frontier, Alexander Ma­ at a night spot near Atchison, jors stated that Harry Roff was Kansas in the war days, and the the first Pony Express rider out third one died at Santa Ana, of Sacramento with east-bound California December 7, 1913 at the mail. The memoirs were publish­ age of seventy years. This writer ed in 1893 thirty-three years after had known of the first two John the events related. We quote: Frys, but it took a recent telephone call from James Curry at Cameron, The day of the fi11st start, the Missouri to learn of the third one. third of April at noon and cover­ [RAIL ROAD. Mr. Curry recently retired as pub­ ed the first twenty miles, includ­ ing one change, in fifty-nine lisher of the Holt County Sentinel minutes. On reaching Folsom he at Oregon, Missouri. He said that changed again and s.tarted for TO OHIUGO, &T. LOIJIX, & PDIRTS JUST, NORTH &SOUTH his paper on January 2, 1914 had Placerville at the foot of the carried an article about the death Sierra Nevada mountains, fifty­ five miles distant. There he con­ of John Fry, Pony Express rider nected with "Boston" who took 5 TO 7 DAYS TEDIOUS NAVIGATION which had occurred in December, the route to Friday's station, THE ANTELOPE 1913 at Santa Ana, California, crossing the eastern summit of J, T. X, lIAYWAlUJ, Superintendent. near Los Angeles. Inquiry of the Sierra Nevad:1. Sam Hamil­ As the river steamer Antelope carried the first pony and rider out of San Francisco on April 3, ton next fell in line, and pursued D.. C. . SAWIN, General Agent, St. Joseph. Mrs. Isabel Evans at Central his way to Genoa,· Carson City, 1860 bound for Sacramento, on the Sacramento river, so did the ferryboat Denver at Saint Joseph Public Library revealed that the Dayton, Reed's Station and Fort This advertisment appeared in the 1860 City Directory of Sa int Joseph Saint Joseph News-Press and Churchill, seventy-fiv,e miles. The on the same date carry the first pony and rider out of Saint Joseph to Elwood in Kansas Territory. Gazette had carried similar articles entire run, 185 miles was made in .fifteen hours and twenty Rising's mount. Off they went Keetley also stated that the home on December 22 and 23, 1913 minutes, including the crossing into the dark. station where both horse and rider respectively. Both papers stated ol the west,ern summits of the first start of the Pony Express, the first rider out of Saint Joseph changed was at Guittard's in that John Fry was the first Sierras, through thirty fUtah, 166 miles; from JOHN FRY WAS A MISSOURIAN nekuk, Granada and Log Chain. April 3, 1860 is the correct date. Doniphan County Historical So­ Ruby Valley to Deep Creek, H. They were smaller and were known He stated that the first pony ciety tells us that the John Fry Richardson, 105 miles; from as relay stations where horses only who died in California was the Deep Creek to Rush Valley, Old after the start of the Pony Express. started from the one story brick Camp Floyd, eighty mUes; from John Fry was born in Saint were changei. At home stations express office on the east side of first cousin of John Fry of Saint Camp Floyd to Salt Lake City, Joseph according to Mrs. Margaret Third street between Fielix and Joseph, the Pony Express rider. fifty miles. George Thatcher, Larzelere Rice of Troy, Kansas. Johnny Fry had a brother named both rider and horse changed. the last end. 'This ended the Dick Fry. He also was a Union Edmond streets, which office was That California John Fry was the Her father's farm adjoined that of Some claim that Jack Keetley later moved to the Patee House. son of Reason Fry of Mount Airy Western Division, under the Reason Fry on the Pony Express soldier. He was honorably dis­ management of Bolivar Roberts, charged at the end of the war, had taken the mochila at Marys­ The consensus now is that the school district of Doniphan County, now in Salt Lake City. trail. Reason Fry was the brother ville, Kansas Territory. He is said who was a neighbor of the Lar­ of John Fry's father of Saint and wrote his parents in Saint Pony Express stables was where Joseph that he was expressing his to have changed horses at Hollen­ zelere family. Besides John Fry, The Thatchers of Utah are rela­ Joseph, Jacob Fry. Both are berg and at Rock Creek in Ne­ the first rider left April 3, 1860. shown in the 1860 city directory. trunk home from Saint Louis and the o1der children of Reason Fry tives of the Josiah Beattie de­ would follow it in a few days. braska Territory. The next home The mochila with its mail and were Charles, Joseph. Marquis de scendants in Saint Joseph. Mrs. Rice still believes that station where the riders changed Johnny Fry was the first Pony Those few days stretched to count­ telegrams reached Salt Lake City Layayette (Mark), William and less years, but Dick Fry was never was Big Sandy where Jack Keetley in the evening of April 9th. The Kate Reason Fry. His widow Express rider out of Saint Joseph. surrendered his mochila. On Au­ later lived on a farm across the JOHN FRY and heard of again. These facts were site of the Pony Express head­ The Pony Express ceased to given us also by Mrs. Margaret gust 21, 1907 Mr. Huston Wyeth, quarters was where the building road from the Vories place on old a wealthy Saint Joseph industri&­ BILLY RICHARDSON operate in October, 1861 when the Larzelere Rice, former president of of the Salt Lake Tribune now is. highway 36. Mrs. Rice tells us telegraph lines to California were the Doniphan County, Kansas, ist received a letter from that same The mail was sharply behind that Joe and Charles once lived At the eastern end of the Pony completed. John Fry joined the Historical Society. She believes Jack Keetley, a businessman in schedule at that point. Erastus near Dearborn, Missouri, as well as Express, the first rider out prob­ Union Army of General Blunt as the Fry families came to this Salt Lake City, stating that Alex Egan, a Latter Day Saint, carried Kate. She did not remember that ably was Billy Richardson. This a mounted scout. Some Arkansas region from Kentucky. Carlyle was the first pony rider the mail south to Rush Valley, John Fry, their brother, ever lived is not the majority view, however, Rangers surrounded him there on out of Saint Joseph, being a formerly Camp Floyd, in record at Rushville or DeKalb, Missouri, in Saint Joseph and in northeast the Canadian River. It is said The first rider out was relieved nephew of Ben Fickland, the able time. It was William Frederick as stated in the above mentioned Kansas. According to the 1860 that Fry accounted for five of his late that night at Seneca, Kansas, superintendent of the entire Pony Fisher, a Morman of English birth articles, but that Joseph did do directory of Saint Joseph John Fry assailants before he was killed. a "home" station where both riders Express trail. Keetley's letter to who carried the mochila into Ruby tobacco farming at Weston. was foreman of the Fish and That is a feat that only one other and horses were changed. The Mr. Wyeth also stated that John Valley, Nevada. Most of the riders According to Mrs. Rice the Pony Fry was the second ·rider, and he Express John Fry of Saint Joseph Robidoux Livery Stable, and Wil­ Saint Joseph resident could have rider awaiting him there is said to in this region were English Mor­ liam Richardson was his hostler. equalled ... Jesse James himself, have been Don Rising. The mo­ himself was the third rid'er out­ joined the 10th Kansas Volunteer According to Lee Starnes of Saint who was killed on another historic chila with its mail and telegrams bound from Saint Joseph, and that mons and they made up for the Infantry as a scout and was with Joseph, a day or so before the April third, just twenty-two years was switched to the saddle of Gus Cliff was the fourth. time lost east of Salt Lake City. the 3rd Kansas Indian regiment Page 12 Page 13 Monument across Penn street from the Pony Express stables in Patee Park in Saint Joseph. It was dedicated with Buffalo Bill and Charlie Cliff being present, April 3, 1913. when he was killed at Baxter account of the death of John Fry, of Atchison on "Holladay's Over­ Springs, Arkansas in 1863. She "the Pony Express rider", at a land Stage lines, Butterfield' said his unit had so many Indians night spot near Atchison. The Overland Dispatch and Russell in it that it was given the name account stated that a man had a Majors and Wadd!ell's overland Indian regiment. grudge against John Fry and routes and other freight and tr~m - followed him outdoors and shot portation enterprises." Mrs. Km~­ Mrs. Rice tells us that the Santa him. The owner of the place ston's deathbed confession said Ana, California John Fry engaged fearing a scandal, buried John Fry Johnny "Frey" was buried at her in developing irrigation methods and said nothing about it. Later residence. The lead of the .Globe and became quite well off. on the facts came to light. article stated that "the residence The Pony Express John Fry of at 1119 Riley street in the n1~.:v 1 Saint Joseph on one occasion rode THE SKULL OF JOHNNY FRY recently is reported to be the bm1a from Saint Joseph to Marysville, place of Johnny Frey, famous Pony Express rider." Kansas, to attend a dance. He From the Atchison Globe of danced all night and the next day MRS. KINGSTON'S he rode back without sleep or rest October 7, 1954 we learn of the JOHNNY FRY ... all in less than thirty-six hours. deathbed confession of Mrs. King­ CONFESSION ston in Oklahoma City in 1892 to h· Th'~ YC·tl~~ful likeness was dug up in the old as reported in the Atchison Globe 1860 City Directory, was at the northeast corner In this photograph Fry has the look of a t1tokrical files at the Saint .Joseph Museum crusader in his eye. He was adored by young Mr. A. D. Blythe, of Atchison, Fred Sutton, a former Atchison wee s aftE•r wor' th' p E of Main and Faraon streets. Johnny Fry was is as follows : th M · • on is ony xpress issue of small in build and had served as a jockey at women but he did not marry. One time while Kansas, a banker at Rushville, res:id'ent who visited her there e use,,111 Graphic b A , when she was at the point of "Sutton, I am going to die. 1 els h I was egun. s recited the racetrack near Sparta, Missouri for Camp riding near Troy, Kansas, a young woman on a Missouri and at Atchison, sent us have lived a long and eventful of e; err; ~e was born. in Saint Joseph, the son Lynch of Agency, Missouri. Lynch in the 1880s fresh horse overtook Fry and tore off a corner a copy of the Atchison Globe a few death. She had operated in the li.fe. l have done a thousand stab1:"~t h'.\ hThe Fis1~ and Robidoux livery was foreman-partner of the Lynch and Boder of his loose shirt which she included in a years ago which contained the 1860s a night spot which was west (Continued on Page 17) w. •c e was 1sted as foreman in the ranch in the Cherokee $trip. patchwork quilt she was making.. With one Page 14 Page 15 exception practically all writers on Pony Express runs to the Seneca or Guittard's Kansas home his wrist. We cannot ignore the possibility THE SKULL OF JOHNNY FRY~ history misspell Johnny Fry's name. They either stations. Margaret Larzelere Rice, of Troy, tells that Alex Carlyle was assigned that job as set (Continued from Page 14) spell it Frey or Frye. us that her great uncle, Charles Larzelere often forth in Keetley's letter to Mr. Huston Wyeth. things I should not have done, but too, in a manner to offset took Johnny Fry's place in the rides westward After all Carlyle was the nephew of Ben The listing in the Saint Joseph 1860 City them, I have made and given from Elwood, Kansas. Fickland, the general superintendent of the away a million dollars. Directory, which includes listings through May Pony Express. This photograph strongly re- "This you know to be true, for 1861, makes it seem likely that Fry retained his Many persons think that Fry assigned his the money was given to the poor sembles the News-Press photograph of Johnny of Atchison when we both lived job as the livery stable foreman during his hostler at the livery stable, Billy Richardson, there. Pony Express career. In his position he could to take the first mail out of Saint Joseph Fry in his uniform as a Union S·cout taken two "There is one thing on my mind assign riders other than himself to make the because of an injury Fry had sustained to years later. which sort of bothers me. I am going to tell it to you, and you will be the only other person in the world who knows this secret. "Shortly after I opened my re­ sort, known as The Farm in the early 60s, it was my custom to ghe a grand ball about once a month. They were attended by persons for hundreds of miles around. "We had a wonderful ballroom and a stable large enough to care for a hundred teams. Many times I have seen the stablies full, and the bal1s would last from two days to a week.

"One of the women at The Farm was an attractive Irish girl with many admirers, one of them a man by the name of Cleveland. He was known throughout the south and west as 'Cleveland the Outlaw'. "He would nearly always drop in about midnight, would monopo­ lize the company .of this woman for a time, then would disappear and not be heard from until the next ball. "On the night of which I am speaking, one of the attendants at the ball was Johnny Frey, who came down from St. Joe early in the evening to spend the night. He immediately be­ came infatuated with the Irish girl. "Between dawn and 1 o'clock Cleveland dropped in, and when he asked this particular girl to dance, she told him she was engaged to dance with Frey. 1 "Cleveland became sullen and sat Photograph by Don Reynolds in a corner with his eyes on the f dancing couple continuously. About 3 a.m. Frey excused him­ self from his companion and went outdoors. In a moment FOUR SAINT JOSEPH RIDERS INDEPENDENCE ROCK Cleveland followed." Frey never returned to St. Joe to resume carrying mail, Mrs. From a photograph of William (Billy) Richardson, upper left, and John (Johnny) Fry. Below Kingston related and many stories were told concerning are Charlie Cliff and Gus Cliff. Buffalo Bill Cody's rides in Central Wyoming in the early 1860's invited ambush attacks by indians or white ruffians. In one of the what became of him, including one that he was killed by took him by this formidable freak of nature. It lay between Red Mormon handcart migrations in the 1850's many Latter Day Saints, Indians. Buttes on the east to Three Crossings on the west, Cody's home their wives and children were trapped there by a blizzard. Many "As I lie here now on what I Richardson, still wearing his uniform had been a sailor, and Johnny Pry had formerly been a stations. He was only fif.teen years old when he started riding Pony. know to be my d•eath bed," Mrs. froze to death and the rest were saved by a rescue party sent out Kingston continued, "I will tell race track jockey at Sparta, Missouri. The 1860 City Directory of Saint Joseph shows John Fry The rock itself is fia nked on the southwest by some rocky defiles which from Salt Lake City by Brigham Young. you the truth about what be· came of him." as foreman of Fish and Robidoux livery stable. Richardson i~ listed as hostler at the same "Cleveland killed Johnny Frey livery stable. between the back door of my Page 16 Page 17 that the American and Wells Fargo and Company for business in Cali­ Kansas in 1859. This company interests controlled at least half of fornia where Adams and Company owned the Pony Express as a the capital stock of the Overland were dominant, and Adams was subsidiary. Mail Company when it was moved forced out of the California field Instead of granting the central north to the central route. in 1855, because of financial losses. overland mail contracts to the In 1844 Henry Wells operated John Butterfield partly repre­ Russell company, President James Wells and Company between Buf­ senting the Wells Fargo interests Buchanan and the Democratic con­ falo and Detroit with William G. in June 1858 was awarded the gress, dominated by southerners, Fargo as messenger. contract of the Postmaster General b.ad the Overland Mail Company In 1850 Wells and Company, for a mail line between Saint Louis transferred to the Central Route. Butterfield Mason and Company, and San Francisco by way of El This spelled ruin for the Russell and Livingston Fargo and Compa­ Paso and Los Angeles. It was company. ny merged into the American known as the Overland! Mail. April 24th, 1861 Ben Holladay's Express Company. Wells became It was this route that Russell cousin Bela M. Hughes, a Saint president, and in 1852 William G. Majors and Waddell sought to Joseph banker, was elected presi­ Fargo became secretary and so supercede by incorporating the dent of the Central Overland Cali­ remained for eigh~een years. In Central Overland California and fornia and Pike's Peak Express 1852 they organize,d Wells Fargo Pikes's Peak Express Company in (Continued on Page 22)

PONY EXPRESS MEMORIAL STATUE

It graces the civic center of Sa int Joseph. It was dedicated by St. Joseph abounds in historical markers. One of the bes•t known Federal Judge Merrill E. Otis April 20, 1940. While the mural painter and most photographed is the Pony Express Memorial. The marker is George W. Gray was doing his historical work at the Hotel Robidoux a life size bronze statue of a Pony Express Rider and his mount. in the 1930s one of his helpers in research was Lee W. Starnes of Saint Joseph. In those days Starnes used to show an effigy of a The monument was unveiled April 20, 1940 and weighs 7,200 lbs. Pony rider on his horse he had carved out of a bar of yellow laundry Frederick Avenue at Ninth. soap. Some believe it was Starnes who gave birth to the Idea of the above statue. The s+atue was done by the late H. A. MacNeil of New York. Photo by Don L. Reynolds

kitchen and the barn, and :b~rey's skeleton with a bullet companies, the National, Adams, strange .as it may seem, I was hole through his skull." the one who discovered the body. American and Wells Fargo •did I called a big Negro man who End of quotation. own the Overland Mail. Henry wa,s working for me, and to­ B. B. Wells and William G. Fargo were gether •we carried the body into president and secretary of the the basement. WELLS FARGO American Express Company re­ spectively as well as being officers "The Negro dug a hole six .feet deep and placed the body in the and the in the Wells Fargo Company. hole. He died very mysteriously PONY EXPRESS Benjamin P. Cheney of New a short -time later, and that left me the sole po,ss•essor of the Hampshire was a large stockholder secret. Many writers on the Pony Ex­ in the National Express Company, MUD SPRINGS press have erroneously stated that a New England concern. He was Wells Fargo & Company owned the This photograph of the limpid pool was taken for the Saint Joseoh Museum by Don Reynolds. "I have told you thi,g as it oc­ interested in the Overland Mail curred. If you have any doubts Overland Mail Company when it Company to San Francisco and in as to its truth and have interest was transferred to the central the American and Wells Fargo Probably in Pony Express days oxen from wagon trains rushed to the springs for fresh water enough, you may go to the old route on March 2, 1861. and speedily turned it into a mud puddle. Hence its name. The springs were between Julesburg, farm and dig in the basement. express companies. There you will find Johhny The facts are that four express From these facts it is apparent Colorado and Chimney Rod, Nebraska. Page 19 Page 18 BILLY AND JOHN FISHER AND JOHHNY HANCOCK

This is another photograph sent to us from Oakland, California by Billy Fisher's daughter Mrs. Minnie Fisher Ellsworth, the niece of John Fisher. Doubtless John Hancock was a Pony rider too although his name is omitted from most lists of Pony Express riders. They rode on Egan's route across the desert between Salt Lake and California. The Fishers were Latter Day Saints, as Hancock probably was also. Note the fr;nges on his leather pants. The Fisher brothers were natives of England.

The mustangs ridden on Egan's route were the descendents of wild horses. These horses resembled Arab stallions in build and were smaller but tougher than the Kentucky type race horses used out of Saint Joseph. The wild horses were descendents of animals brought by the Spaniards to Old Mexico. Great herds of wild horses still roamed the western plains in Pony Express days. Billy and John Fisher and Johnny Hancock

PONY EXPRESS PLAQUE

It is attached to the Gothenburg, Nebraska Pony Express station. Originally the station was on the Williams Ranch south of the Platte river in Nebraska. A number of years ago the American Legion post at Gothenburg moved it to the city park in Gothenburg north of the river which is near U. S. highway 30. The old Pony Express trail south of the river is no longer in use. Similar plaques are used along the Pony trail where interest in history prevails.

M. JEFF THOMPSON

He was mayor of Saint Joseph April 3, 1860." That evening he gave the bay mare the spank that sent her and her rider on the way to the ferryboat Denver waiting to carry them westward to the Kansas shore. Thompson was a colonel in the Missouri state guard. He was candidate to GOTHENBURG PONY EXPRESS ST ATION succeed himself as mayor but the day or so later he was defeated for the office by Armstrong Beattie, the town's first banker. The ceremony took place at the Pony Express stable. This photograph was taken by Don L. Reynolds on his recent visit to Pony Express landmarks as far west as Scotts Bluff, Nebraska. This original station was moved from the Williams ranch south Here the colonel is shown wearing the uniform of a brigadier general in the Missouri state of the Platte river to City Park at Gothenburg, Nebraska, north of the Platte river. The moving was M. JEFF THOMPSON guard which he became when he cast his lot with the South in 1861. the project of the American Legion there. Page 20 Page 21_ ALEXANDER MAJORS WELLS FARGO AND THE PONY EXPRESS- :t1n·nt1 af Abraham Lincoln to the- first Tde- fornia eastward to Salt Lake City, front row from rig ht to left is Buffalo Bill . ,·;::.i,ih ;.;i,ui,:;n ' " ' T he Ov~·rhwci P(1ny 1<-:xP.resi., Ti•l mg; )-all mile:. i11 i4 ho"l.il'S a1.d 1ft the alliance of the American Cody, Alexa nder Ma jors and John B. Coulton, ·1i"1.~.1.,te11. fr,r,m $\n,itn Cx-edr o }l',;;n f'hurchtll, :\l~y;vfa. l"'i«.1. (Continued on Page 26) probably a business associat e of Cody's. Majors' book paid him handsome royalties the ROBERT H. HASLAM {PONY BOB) rest of his life. A ll American lovers of hist ory

should read it . One of the three most widely known Pony Express riders. The othe r two were Buffalo Bill Cody and Johnny Fry. Has;lam rode in Nevada and California, the wes+ end of the Pony Express. Cody rode in Wyoming near the center, while Johnny Fry rode out of Saint Joseph.

In December 1860 the Pah-Ute Indian War still waged. Pony Bob ,later said that he reached Reed's station on the Carson river but found no change of horses. He fed the horse he was riding and started for Buckland, later known as Fort Churchill, fifteen miles further on. He had already ridden 60 miles. Because of fear of the Indians•, the other rider refused to take the mochila. Haslam continued with the mail to Smiths Creek, 190 miles. He rested there and started back with the return express. When he arrived at Cold Springs he found the keeper killed. He continued on and reached Sand Springs safely.

After the Pony Express ceased to operate, Pony Bob was employed by Wells, Fargo as a pony express rider. He was sant by them to Idaho as a pony express rider there over a I 00 mile route using one hors,e only. Haslam, about thirty years later was the successful manager of the Congress and Auditorium hotels in Ch;cago. He was just another of the ma ny Pony Express riders who became suc­ ces,sf.ul businessmen in later years. Charlie Cliff of Saint Joseph was another example and Harry Roff, manager of the Home In­ surance Company at San Fra ncisco, was another.

The above drawing has been lent us by the MRS. J. W . CAVANDER THE HOME STATION AT SENECA, KANSAS W e ll s Fargo History room in San Francisco. At home stations both the ride rs and the horses were changed Saint Jos•eph but lat er the home st ation was shortened to Seneca , Haslam had it done long after he had re­ while at the several intervening way stations only the horses were Kan$aS Territory 80 miles away. The Smith hotel and it s adjoining barn tired from riding Pony. Note the size of the She is the outstanding authority on Pony Express history at Julesburg in northeastern Colorado. changed. According to Jack Keetley in his letter to Mr. Huston furnishe d luxurious q uarters for the st ation keeper, the stock tenders, Pony Express riders were force d to ford the South Platte river here to proceed north to the horse compared to the rider. Most artists make Wyeth of Saint Jose ph written at Salt Lake City in 1907, the first t he ride;s a nd of course their good friends the horses. Photo t aken North Platte river at Fort Laramie, Wyoming. From Julesburg, a bra nch line of the Pony Express home stat ion out of Saint Jos,eph was at Guittard's 125 miles from by Don Reynolds of the Saint Jose ph Museum. the rider much too big for the horse he rode. followe d the South Platte river into Denver. P age 23 P age 22 . \ '

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THE HOLLEN BERG PONY EX PRESS STATION It was built as a ranch house in 1857 by G . H. Hollenberg. It became a Pony Express PATEE HOUSE way station or horse changing point on the This hotel was built by John Patee. It was begun in 1856 and on April 3, 1860 when the Pony Express- wus launched in Saint Jose ph. trail to Sacramento, California on April 4, completed in 1858. It became the headquarters in 1860 of the The building is still standing at Twelfth and Penn sheets just two and 1860, the day after the firs+ westward bound Pony Express. Wi-lliam H. Russell and Alexander Majors were present one-half blocks east of the Pony Express stables. rider lleft Saint Joseph. It was one and one half miles east of Hollenberg, Nebraska which was laid o ut and named by Mr. Holle nberg. It was already the scene of much st age coach and freighter traffic for it was a st age coach stop on t he Central O verla nd trails to Cali­ fornia a nd Pike's Peak.

JACK KEETLEY The state of Kansas maintains it as a state historica,I monument and park. It is claimed to be the only remaining unaltered Pony He is one of the early Pony Express riders Express st at ion in the United States. out of Saint Joseph and in 1907 wrote the From a photograph taken by Don Reynolds of the Saint Joseph Museum. famous letter to Mr. Huston Wyeth of Saint Joseph which we have referred to elsewhere. He rode Pony for almost all of the eighteen months the Pony Express existed. Most of his career his home station was not Sa int Joseph. On one occasion he rode from Marysville, Kansas to Big Sandy in Nebras-ka , a home JOHN BURNETT stat ion , t hen d o ubled back for a nothe r rider Perhaps the first rider out o-f Saint Joseph, to as far as Se neca, Kansstagecoaches but been a s,uccessful superintende nt of mines in it has b ee n lost. Mr. Holman· is business represe ntative in Saint J os,e p h .,f the Inter­ Utah. He is another of the Pony ride rs who national Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. turned out to be a successful businessman. B. B. Page 24 Page 2,5 tem were superior, and got along The redskins come howling like wolves to the kill; better in every way than those working under the old idea of With war-paint and bonn,et, with ax and with gun, ruffianism. They gallop like demons, they shoot as they run; The bullets are pattering under my steed "It ts my firm conviction that Whos,e hoofs are unturning the turf in my need; where men are born commanders or managers there is no need o.f One ear is bent forward, the other turns back the cruelty and punishment so To heed my cajoling, to keep in the track. often dealt out by so many in authortty. With men who haive the key of go·vernment in their I gain the last summit, I climb the last hill, natures there is li,ttle trouble in There bursts on my sight, 0, ineffable thrill! getting employees to conform strictly to their duty. A shimmering view of my heavenly home, All canopied o',er with a blue vaulted dome. "In later yea11s, when my busi­ As lovely a vale as resplendent Cashrnere ness had so increased and the firm of Majors and Russell was Lies encircled my rnountains, and, crystalline clear, formed, I insisted on carrying my A salty lake gleams 'neath the sun's burning ire, system and mana.gement into the business of the new firm, and the A platter of silver aglitter with fire. same cou11se was pursued by the firm of Russell, Majors and Wad­ Not even a chipmunk is startled in flight, dell as I have above narrated." As the feet of my mustang incessantly pound "Notwithstanding the disagree­ The above Pony Express envelope hand-stamped at New York May 7 was formerly in the Crocker In staccato-like cadenc,e over the ground; able features mentioned I sel­ collection at San Francisco. It went to San Francisco via Sa·int Joseph. The enve,lope recently was But the things that inhabit the primitive wild ected this vocation and on the sold at auction for a high price. On the upper right at the edge of the ten-cent s.famp, the hand 10th day of August 1848, with Know nothing of humans by passion begiled, my first Ii1:Jtle outfit of six stamp says California Pony Express, May 7, New York. The hand-stamp at Saint Joseph says For I lope into Egan and ther,e I behold wagons ,and teams, started in Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company May 11. On the outer rim it business." recites Pony Express. LL The end of a drama. The story is told Coutesy, Harry A. Nelson, Miami, Texas By the wreckage thrown loosely all over the ground; The post a red shambles, the dead lying 'round. WILLIA,M F. CODY Later known the world over as The agents and redskins may lurk in my path "Buffalo Bill", William F. Cody FROM BUSY SAINT JO TO SACRAMENTO, MAGIC CITY OF GOL:D With weapons more dread than Goliath's of Gath. was born in Iowa January 10, On, On, I ride without wait or avail by 1846. His parents moved to Salt For I am in charge of the Government mail. EX-GOVERNOR CHARLES R. MABEY Creek Valley near present Effing­ Ex-Governor Charles R. Mabey of Utah Over blisbering sand, over alkali flat, ham, Kansas in 1854, the year that Kansas Territory was opened for Poet laureate of the Pony Express Too dreary to nourish a little brown rat, settlement. His grandniece lives Over sweltering waste, over (];esert and dune, at Effingham and is notable for I swing to the saddle at busy Saint Jo Through dust storms that blow like a raging typhoon. Poet La urea to of the Pony Express her ability as a square dancer in Where the sinuous river is muddy and slow; old time dresses and bonnet. My knife and my pistol are strapped to my side And now we draw nigh to the end of the trail, The photograph was taken when he was a When his father died in 185,7 And the letters I carry are covered with hide; My pony and I, with the government mail. sergeant of the Utah Light ArtiUery which Billy Cody at the age of eleven A word from the ag.ent, a fervent "Good-bye", As a war-wearied charger increases his stride, took his place as bread-winner for served in the Phillipines in 1898 in the Spanish And away to the West speed my pony and I. Approaching the close of a furious ride, his mother and her younger brood. American War. He was S·ubsequently given the He secured employment as a cavy We canter, we gallop, we race like the doe, And, the nearer he comes to his hay and his home, boy when eleven years old with one And the wind whistles music to us as we go. The faster he goes and the whit,er the foam, silver star citation for gallantry in action at of the supply trains of General So, heedless of danger, forgetful of need, that time. He is a graduate of the University Albert Sidney Johnson headed for I gallop through Kansas, I glide o'er the iea, Adown Californw we, thundering, speed. of Utah, and later attended Chicago University. Utah. Cavy is short for cavalier Where billowing prairies roll on like the sea; He resides at Bountiful, Utah where he is servant. He served in that capaci­ The hills of Nebraska loom up; as I pass, Sacramento, the magic city of gold, ty with the U. 8. troopers. Later Reclines on the plain as its features unfold, president of that town's only bank. he was a mounted! messenger for The timorous cottontail hides in the grass, Russell Majors and Waddell with The lumbering bu/ falo bellows his wrath, The feathery foliage swaying in tune their freighting trains. In 1857-8 The fleet-footed antelope flees from my path, With th,e song of the birds in the full flush of June, he returned home and attended And only the flowers in stately array The masts on the river as thick as the trees During World War I he, as a major, was school where he learned to write Nod their sun-spangled heads in a fr~endly "Good Day". That harbor the swarming, assiduous bees, artHlery instructor at the School of Fire at his name and to read a little. He The people that dwell in log cabin and tent went to Denver in 1859 in the Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He is a Latter Day Saint Pike's Peak gold rush. He came I burst into Kearney all feathered with foam; As liv,ely as merchants on patronage bent. I skim up the Platte and the prairie dog, gnome and fulfil·led his duty by serving as a missionary home empty-handed. He was hired No conquering hero of Venice or Rome, as a rider for the Pony Express Of des,ert and dune, a mute sentinel stands, in Germany. He is a writer and accomplished Rich-laden with spoils for his city and home, in April 1860. He had just turned A penguin transported from Antarctic lands, public speaker. His first poem was published fourteen. The extent of his riding And returning with honor, the darling of fame, O'Fallon slips by and, beyond the blue haze, in 1903. The photograph and accompanying in not known. Many years later Was ever accorded more royal acclaim, The Chimney's bald crest now unfolds to my gaze; his press agents for the Buffalo By the wealthy, the poor, the wise and the clown material has been supplied to us by the Utah Bill's Wild West show told such I streak up the steppes with the sureness of fate Than I on attaining the streets of this town, ' State Historical Society of which Governor fantastic tales of his performances And soon I am knocking at Laramie's gate. as a Pony rider that it is difficult FOR I HA VE COME THRU TO THE END OF THE TRAIL Mabey is a trustee. Dr. A. Russell Mortensen (Continue d on Page 20) From aspen and boulder, from bracken and hill, AND I HA VE DELIVERED THE GOVERNMENT MAIL. is director of the society. Page 28 Page 29 WILLIAM F. CODY- take an oath of allegiance to the other riders must have taken their PONY EXPRESS STATION, United States. He set the example places. This list contains 108 MARYSVILLE, KANSAS (Continued from Page 21) by taking the oath himself. names, which large as it is, prob­ to separate fact from fiction. ably falls far short of naming all In 1860-61 this building in Marysville was a It was realized that California the riders. Herb Hamlin's list: He gained his nickname Buffalo with its gold would weigh heavily Pony Express and stagecoach stop of the for or against the Union forces in Henry Avis Jay G. Kelley Bill by furnishing buffalo meat for Melville (Mel) Baughn Thomas 0 . King Central Overland firm. It is now occupied the men building the Kansas the war. There was still a large James W. Brink (Doc) J,ohn Phillip Koener James (Jim) Beatley "Little Yank" Pacific railroad. He had served element of American settlers in Charles Becker "Tough" Littleton by the produce busines,s of James G. Swim. James (Jimmy) Bucklin Montgomery Maze as a mounted scout for the California who wished the state "Black Tom" Charles B. ( Broncho This is reproduced through the courtesy of Union Army in Missouri and Ten­ to become an independent republic. Jim "Boston 11 Charley) Miller John Burnett William (Bill) Roy Lewis of Home, Kansas. The original roof nessee in the War of Secession, and The United States had not treated John Brandenburger McNaughton William Boulton James (Jim) McNaughton has been changed and the rock walls are now later on the plains as Chief of the with much respect the property Hugh Brown James (Jim) Moore scouts with the 5th U. S. Cavalry rights they had secured under the Ed Bush ( ?) Macau las William F. (Bill) Cody Robert (Bob) Martin covered with stucco. As Martin's Hotel it was in its tussel with the Indians. preceding Mexican owners. It Alexander Carlyle J .G. McCall Charley Cliff Pat McEneamny the luxury stop on the Pony Express. had allowed John Sutter, on whose Gustavas (Gus) Cliff James (Jim) McDonald His Wild West Show toured land gold was discovered in 1848, William (Bill) Carr Jeremiah H. Murphy Europe and America for man_Y William A. (Bill) Cates Josh Perkins to be stripped of his possessions. James (Jimmy) Clark William (Bill) Pridham years with great success. He !S William Carrigan Harry R,off James (Saw-off-Jim) Johnson, or William buried on top of Lookout Mountam B.B. Cumbo Richardson near Golden, Colorado. Richard Cleve Donald C. (Don) Rising James Danley Theodore (Yank) Rand Louis Dean Bart Riles THE FIRST MAIL WEST William (Bill) Dennis Edward R•ush LIST OF PONY EXPRESS Joseph (Joe) Donovan Thomas J. Reyn<:>lds W. E. Dorrington James Randall A copy of the Saint Joseph Calvin Downs RIDERS James E. Dunlap ThR:;'n~sha(~appy Tom) Gazette printed on tissue paper Howard R. Egan William H. (Billy) THE PONY EXPRESS MEETS THE TRAIN was carried to California on the Richard R. (Ras) Egan Steeper The fo;t of riders presented here J . K. Ellis Jack Slade first Pony Express out of Saint Johnny Frey, or Frye William Strohm The Pony Express meets the Hannibal and Saint Jo train at the has been lent to us by Herbert S. John Fisher G. G. Sangiovanni Joseph. A photostatic copy of William (Billy) Fisher John Seerbeck that number was given the Saint Hamlin, veteran historian and H. J. Faust John Sinclair railroad station near Eighth and Olive streets. In the background is publisher of Sonora, California. Frank G,ould George Spurr Joseph Historical Society ten years James (Jim) Gilson Robert C. Strickland one of the Concord stagecoaches of the Central Overland California ago by Caroline W e!1zel of. the After years of painstaking re­ Samuel (Sam) Gilson John W. Sugget James (Jim) Gentry George Thatcher and Pike's Peak Express Company. These stages also called at the California State Society. Tissue search he published this list April GeorQe Gardner George Towne 15, 1955 in his monthly publication Theodore (Thee) Hawkins Charles P. Thompson paper issues of the New York Robert ( Pony Bob) James M. Thompson Patee House before starting across the plains. Such men as Horace known throughout the west as Haslam W. S. Tough Tribune and New York Herald Samuel (Sam) Hamilton Warren Upson Greely, Mark Twain, William G . Fargo, Ben Holladay and Sir Richard were carried to California in the The Pony Express. Originally the Martin Hogan William E. Van Blaricon same mail. Central Overland Company had Lester (Let) Huntington Henry Wallace Burton took stage coaches at Saint Joseph for Salt Lake City or Cali­ hired eighty riders who were not Charles Higginbotham Daniel (Dan) Westcott The first mail to California took "Irish Tom" Michael M. Whelan fornia. The latter received his Godspeed from Alexander Majors at to be more than thirty years old "Irish Jim" "Whipsaw1 ' ten days en route. The all time and to weigh not more than 125 Samuel S (Sam) Jobe Joseph E. Wintle the Patee House on August 7, 1860. record was less than eight days Davi,d R. Jay Nicholas (Nick) Wilson pounds. In the year and a half William (Bill) James when Lincoln's inaugural address that Pony Express lasted many William D. (Will) Jenkins H. C. Willis J. H. (Jack) Keetley Henry Worley was carried in seven days and riders must have retired and many Mike Kelly Jose Zowga ltz seventeen hours. Using the branch Pony Express from Julesburg to Denver in Kansas Territory they Weston. &en Holladay furnished supplies to received the Lincoln address in General Stephen Kearney's Army of the West sixty-nine hours out of Saint in the War with Mexico, and to General A. W. Joseph. Doniphan, brother-in-law of Robert W. Donnel,1 of Saint Joseph. General Doniphan had be­ To perform these services re­ friended the Latter Day Saints in their troubes in Miss·ouri in the 1830s. He wrote a letter of quired 190 relay and home stations, introduction for Ben HoUaday to Brigham and over 400 employees including Young in Utah. Through his career as a station keepers and stock or horse freighter, stagecoach king and Pony Express tenders. The Central Overland sponsor he d id a huge business in Utah. He had lent the Pike's Peak stables to the California and Pike's Peak Express Central Overland Californ'ia and Pike's Peak Company had purchased 480 horses Express Company and at the very beginning or mustangs, engaged about 80 of the Pony Express had purchased feed for Pony riders. the ponies in far away California on credit. His cousin Bela M. Hughes, Saint Joseph There was a spiritual zeal among banker, was elected president of the Central Overland company in Leavenworth April 24, the riders which amounted almost 1861 , and then as creditor, Ben Holladay to a religion, perhaps helped by the effectively controlled the company for large tiny Bibles given the riders by sums he had advanced it. In 1866 he sold his Alexander Maj ors. It is probable half west to Salt Lake City to Wells Fargo & Company for a huge sum. He built Ophir THE PONY EXPRESS AT SACRAMENTO that in most cases the riders would Ha.JI at Purchase, New York, as his country seat. have performed their jobs without It is now in 1959 the administration building any recompense, save food and there of Manhattanville College of the Sacred Above is a view of the Hastings building at the southwest corner of Pony Express mail as long as the pony riders rode into Sacramento, Heart. He owned steamship lines in the Second and J streets in Sacramento, California. Recent research re­ which was the first part of July three months later. Placerville then lodging, due to their high morale. BEN HOLLADAY Pa·cific but his financial undoing came when veals that it was the site of the Alta Telegraph Office where the Pony became the objective of the pony riders. The Pony Express eastern Express delivered the eastern mail April 13, 1860. The drawing was mail was then carried by stagecoach from Placerville to Sacramento After Fort Sumpter was fired H e was reared at nearby Weston, Missouri. he lost control of his Oregon Central Railroad on the Black Friday stock exchange panic of doubtless made prior to November 23, 1855. At that time the Adams and to San Francisco by river steamer. on, starting the War of Secession, He was· born in Kentucky. His grandniece, Express Company left the California field to its competitor Wells 1873. He was sixty-eight when he died in The drawing and principal facts above have been furnished the Alexander Majors required that Mrs. Maud Barton Poss, a member of the Portland, Oregon in 1887. Fargo and Company. each of the Pony Express riders Platte County Historical Society, still lives at B. B. The Alta Telegraph Office continued as the office of the Overland Museum Graphic by Senator Swift Berry at Sacramento. Page 31 P age 30 SAN FRANCISCO WELCOMES THE PONY EXPRESS THE NIGHT OF APRIL 13-14, 1860. This copy of the painting was given the Saint Joseph Museum in Septemb )r, 1949 by the History Room at the Wells Fargo bank in San Francisco. Please read description on page 8 within.