Pony Express to ride again

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Pony Express to ride again

Posted: Friday, June 10, 2016 11:18 am | Updated: 2:46 pm, Tue Jun 14, 2016.

Hiawatha World

The National Pony Express Association will relay mail by horse and rider over the famed Pony Express Trail, June 15-25, 2016. Since 1980, the Pollock Pines, California, based group has conducted a re-ride of the mail route each June. ... Personal mail and Commemorative Letters will be carried by horseback, 1966 miles from the Sacramento River to the Missouri River. The first rider leaves Pony Express Plaza, 2nd and J Streets, Old Sacramento, California, at 10:00 am June 15th. The last rider will gallop up to the Patee House, 12th and Penn Streets, in St. Joseph, Missouri, June 25th at 3:30 pm.

The route will be over the Pony Express National Historic Trail, a component of the National Trails System, administered by the National Park Service. Beginning in Central California, it crosses Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas to Missouri. The event is the longest equestrian event (in distance) in the nation.

600 riders from the NPEA’s eight State Divisions will in the custom of the Founders take the Pont Express Oath and receive a Bible prior to participating. Riding relays of 1 to 5 miles, they will take turns transporting a mail filled mochila (a leather square with four pockets). The goal to reach St Joseph on time. ... The re-ride is a ten-day, 24 hour a day event honoring the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company, founded by Russell, Majors and Waddell, a Missouri freighting firm. It carried letters and telegrams from April 1860 to November 1861, to prove the Central Route passable year-round to win a federal mail contract.
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Information and updates on the re-ride will be available from several sources. The Pony Express Home Station, www.xphomestation.com, will have coverage including schedules, reports and photos. Reports will also be found on Facebook (National Pony Express Association). A GPS Unit in the mochila will transmit real-time location of the mochila/mail, and can be followed on Pony Express Tracker.Com. A Nevada Telephone Hotline [phone] with recorded reports of rider locations will be active June 16-18, provided by Sierra Intermountain Radio Association. Additional Information can be obtained by contacting: National Pony Express Association, P O Box 236, Pollock Pines, CA 95726, or [phone].

The Pony Express Home Station

I can't come up with a valid link for Pony Express Tracker.com. Try:

Pony Express Tracker Map

Hat tip, Casper, WY, Star-Tribune: Wyoming residents keep the Pony Express alive

By GREGORY R.C. HASMAN
Updated 9 hrs ago

ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. (AP) — On the outskirts of the Civil War, young men from across the country carried mail, newspapers, telegrams and other forms of correspondence on horseback from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, along the Pony Express. They traveled hundreds of miles into the unknown with nothing but their horses, mochilas, Bibles and sense of adventure.

The job did not last long, the Rocket-Miner reported (http://bit.ly/1Ur8PQr). ... The Pony Express died in its infancy after racing from April 3, 1860, to Oct. 24, 1861. Its cause of death was attributed to the completion of the transcontinental telegraph line, but despite its premature demise, its spirit remains.

The National Pony Express Association continues to preserve the mail carriers' legacy through an annual Pony Express re-ride. The 37th edition will run to June 25. Volunteers will head east this year as they retrace the route on horseback as they will take mail from Old Sacramento, California, and bring it to St. Joseph. At which point the mail will be dispersed to local post offices that will deliver the items to the destinations.

About 600 riders from California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri will take the Pony Express oath and receive a Bible, just like the riders did, prior to participating. The event is a 10-day ode to the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company, founded by Missouri freighting firm Russell, Majors and Waddell.

[KamaAina]

1. Old Sac is way cool

the few blocks between Interstate 5 and the Sacramento River have been restored Old West-style, complete with plank sidewalks (with concrete access ramps at each end). Even the Wells Fargo branch is a mini-museum! On a given summer day, you can hear the whistle of the nearby steam train (the California Railroad Museum is there as well), and the PA from the Sacramento RiverCats' (Giants AAA affiliate) ballpark across the river.

For some reason I can't imagine, Old Sac boasts what I believe to be the heaviest concentration of candy shops on the planet. Some of them have barkers on the street trying to get you in!