SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – The Pony Express operated for just 18 months in 1860-61, but it is still part of history that continues to be shared and enjoyed.
Each June, members of the National Pony Express Association recreate the Pony Express in a Commemorative Re-Ride over 10 days. Letters are carried in a mochila over the original trail. The 1,966-mile, eight-state event is conducted 24 hours a day until the mail is delivered to its destination. This national event is an opportunity for all young and old to ride the Pony Trail and to receive mail via the Pony Express, or to watch the riders and horses rush by.
The event started in St. Joseph, Missouri, on June 15 and will end on June 25 in Sacramento, California.
The rider and their horse will enter the Lake Tahoe Basin on Wednesday, June 24, as they make their way down the original trail near Kingsbury Grade. They will then go through Stateline in front of the Pony Express statue at Harrah’s Tahoe and stop at Stateline Avenue and US50 to change the horse and rider and pass the mochilla full of mail in front of McP’s.
The fresh horse will then head out on Pioneer Trail to Golden Bear for another exchange by the fire station.
Watch this exciting part of history. People are welcome anywhere along the route. Currently, they are expected in Stateline at 5:30 p.m., but as of Monday night, the horse is running behind. They are in Overland Pass, Nevada, about two hours off schedule.
View the schedule at https://nationalponyexpress.org/re-ride/current-reride/ and the real-time report at https://nationalponyexpress.org/re-ride/follow-the-ride/.
Ham radio operators from South Lake Tahoe are part of the team in the middle of Nevada, reporting the journey of the horse and rider.
There is one remnant of the Pony Express on the South Shore, the white house to the east of Bally’s on US50. This was Friday’s Station. What we now see from the highway is actually the back of the original building. The Pony Express Trail went through the buildings at that location and is commemorated by a sign on the loop road near the winter sledding area.
Originally built about 1858 by Friday Burke and James Small as a stage station on the Placerville-Carson City Road, Friday’s became an important home station for the Pony Express when the fabled outfit began carrying the U.S. Mail in April of 1860. This was the first home station on the Pony Express route for riders coming from Sacramento heading east. Friday’s eastbound relay rider was Robert (Pony Bob) Halsam. He is credited with having made the longest uninterrupted ride during the brief duration of the Pony Express
From the National Pony Express Association:
Young men once rode horses to carry mail from Missouri to California in an unprecedented time of only 10 days. This relay system along the Pony Express National Historic Trail, crossing eight states, was the most direct and practical means of east-west communications in 1860. From Missouri to California, the Pony Express riders could deliver a letter faster than ever before.
The Pony Express was in operation for only 18 months between April 1860 and October 1861. Nevertheless, the Pony Express has become synonymous with the Old West. In the era before easy mass communication, the Pony Express was the thread that tied East to West.
Thousands of people moved west on the Oregon and California Trails starting in the 1840s, followed by the 1847 Mormon exodus to Utah and the 1849 Gold Rush. The growing West needed fast mail communication beyond the Rocky Mountains. William H. Russell, Alexander Majors, and William B. Waddell created the Central Overland California & Pike’s Peak Express Company to carry mail across the country. It later became known as the Pony Express.
On June 16, 1860, about ten weeks after the Pony Express began operations, Congress authorized a bill to subsidize a transcontinental telegraph line to connect the Missouri River and the Pacific Coast. This resulted in the incorporation of the Overland Telegraph Company of California and the Pacific Telegraph Company of Nebraska.
While the telegraph lines were under construction, the Pony Express operated as usual. Letters and newspapers traveled the entire length of the line from St. Joseph to Sacramento. The telegrams went only between the rapidly advancing wire ends.
It was on October 26, 1861, that San Francisco was in direct contact with New York City. The Pony Express was officially terminated. In November 1861, the last Pony Express letters completed their journey.
Most of the original trail has been obliterated by time or human activities. Along many segments, the trail’s actual route and exact length are matters of conjecture. In the western states, the majority of the trail has been converted, over the years, to double-track dirt roads. Short pristine segments, believed to be traces of the original trail, can be seen only in Utah and California. However, approximately 120 historic sites may eventually be available to the public. This includes 50 existing Pony Express stations or station ruins.
