The Pony Express Still Rides With Historical Re-enactment

Most of us know the Pony Express had a short service: The telegraph put it out of business only about 18 months after it began in 1860. But many people don’t know that it still lives on: The nostalgia and grit embodied by America’s pony-supported mail delivery continues in an annual re-enactment.  In June of each year, volunteers with the National Pony Express Association ride the same 1,966-mile route laid down by the ponies in 1860, from St. Joseph, Mo., to Sacramento, Calif. And they cover that route on horseback in just 10 days, riding day and night, just like the original riders. They will even deliver your letter for the slightly inflation-adjusted price of $5 (the original cost $1).

“Every time I do it, I feel exactly like it’s a kind of time travel,” said Wendy Anderson-Cobb of Ely, Nev., who has ridden in the re-enactment every year since 2000.  That is especially true on the section of Pony Express trail in White Pine County, Nev., which is virtually unchanged from April 3, 1860, the day the first riders set out. With the exception of one state highway crossing, there has been almost no modern development along this portion of the route, meaning that today’s Pony Express riders see almost exactly what the original riders saw.

By contrast, many other areas of the trail have been changed completely by development over the past 160 years. In a lot of instances, the re-enactors must ride on highway shoulders, through housing subdivisions and crowded urban areas.

“I really, really enjoy the rural Nevada parts of the Pony Express,” said Arthur Johnson, president of the Nevada Division of the National Pony Express Association, who lives in Fallon. “We go through parts of the desert and then through different mountain ranges that are pristine. It’s very nostalgic.”  As a result, this section of trail is very realistic in another sense: It is extremely rugged. The 144 miles of trail in Eastern Nevada cross 7 mountain ranges, including one over 8,000 feet. That’s the highest elevation along the entire trail.

 That section, Rocks Springs Pass, is Anderson-Cobb’s favorite part of the trail. She recalls one particularly challenging ride there a few years back.  “During the course of that 9-mile trip, we experienced sun, wind, rain, thunderstorms and snow,” said Anderson-Cobb, who is 59. “This mare and I were trying to get up to the very top of this mountain, where it’s like 8,000 feet. I had to get off because it was so wet and so rocky and snowy, her footing was unsure. I was walking and pulling her, and sometimes she was pulling me. It was beautiful and we were totally alone. But we made it. That was so awesome.”  Her involvement in the re-enactment actually began much earlier, in the mid-1980s. At that time, women were not allowed to participate as riders. So she had to be content as a member of the support crew for her ex-husband, who did ride in the event, even through she had owned and ridden horses since the age of 13.  

That slowly changed, however, as other state chapters began opening the event to women riders. Nevada followed suit in 2000. Anderson-Cobb has been riding every year since.  “For about three or four years some of the old-time guys, they kinda got bent out of shape about women being allowed to ride. But then they kinda dropped out of it — a few here and a few there,” said Anderson-Cobb, who eventually served six years as captain of the Eastern Nevada trail group. “Women are accepted in this chapter really well now. In fact, we’ve got probably as many if not more women riding than men.”

Not just anyone can ride the event, however, because it is so physically demanding for both horses and riders. The re-enactors take their role seriously, and don’t want anyone involved who might delay the mail or endanger other participants because of illness or injury.  “I have actually been in situations where a couple people have been out there on the trail and they were not healthy enough, and it caused some real hardships on the whole group,” said Anderson-Cobb. “You need to be in good shape. If we don’t know people, they have to come and prove to us that they’re in shape physically, and they’re healthy enough to go and be out there.”  

Today’s re-riders try to do everything as authentically as possible. For instance, they usually ride alone, or maybe with one partner. They and their horses wear historically appropriate garb, and they don’t carry cell phones or radios. The only exception is a GPS tracker inside the mochila, the special leather saddlebags that hold the mail. This allows organizers and fans to track the riders’ progress remotely.  The riders are, however, shadowed by four-wheel-drive vehicles along the route, which carry food, water and emergency supplies. One vehicle carries a certified HAM radio operator who can summon help if needed. 

“We try to be completely self-sufficient because in the section that we ride, it’s 144 miles and there are no services from start to finish,” Anderson-Cobb said.  It usually takes the group about 18 hours of continuous riding to cover that 144 miles, with several changes of riders and horses along the way and campouts at each end.  The Nevada route also includes several original Pony Express stations in various stages of decay. One of the best-preserved, Johnson said, is the Simpson Park station a few miles from Austin, Nev.  

“The Pony Express was one of the most dangerous and risky things you could do as a young person. It created a great aura around it,” he said. “In spite of the fact we’re still able to do that 1,966 miles in 10 days, we are wimps compared to what they were back then.”  Spectators can glimpse the 2019 Pony Express Re-Ride at about noon on Monday, June 17, at the Shellbourne Rest Area along U.S. Highway 93, about 40 miles north of Ely, Nev. The rest area features interpretive displays on the original Pony Express Trail, which passes nearby. Riders gather and change horses here during the re-ride before crossing the highway.

For more information:

Pony Express National Historic Trail

https://www.nps.gov/poex/index.htm

 National Pony Express Association:

https://nationalponyexpress.org

 Send a letter by Pony Express (May 1 deadline):

https://nationalponyexpress.org/annual-re-ride/send-a-letter/