OVERTON — A lone rider gallops away on a fresh horse, saddle bags securely fitted as both set off toward the west.
This could just as easily be a scene from 1860, but in 2024, it was the scene of the Pony Express Re-Ride passing through Buffalo, Phelps, Gosper, Dawson and the surrounding counties as they commemorate those who rode in 1860.
History
The Pony Express was a private mail service which used horse mounted riders to transport messages, newspapers and mail in a dramatic attempt to capture a federal mail contract, according to the National Pony Express Association, NPEA.
Operated by the Central Overland California and Pike’s Peak Express Company, the Pony Express was in service from April 1860 to October 1861. Riders relayed messaged between St. Joseph, Mo. and Sacramento, Calif.
While it was operating the Pony Express managed to reduce the travel time from the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Coast in about 10 days and was considered the most direct means of east-west communication for a time.
This was accomplished by 40 riders in the saddle at a time in each direction, 190 stations located along the route were maintained by 400 station keepers.
Riders were paid $25 a week, no small sum of money in 1860. They rode 10 to 15 miles before changing horses and 75 miles before being relieved, according to the NPEA.
Ironically, for all the fame surrounding the Pony Express, the mail service only lasted 18 months, with the introduction of the transcontinental telegraph, the need for the service dried up almost immediately.
Despite this the Pony Express has endured as a lasting symbol of the American West and has become romanticized over the years.
Famous advertisements allegedly read, “Wanted: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over 18. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred,” have added to the luster surrounding this short lived mail service.
What seems to be the most enduring aspect of the Pony Express is its symbolism of rugged American individualism during Frontier times what the lengths people would go to find a solution to a problem.
The Re-Ride
Today there is a group dedicated to keeping this spirit alive, the NPEA is an all-volunteer historical organization whose purpose is to identify, re-establish and mark the original Pony Express trail from St. Joseph Missouri through, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and into California.
In the mid-1960s a group of California horse and trail enthusiasts came together to do re-enactments of the Pony Express, in 1977 the NPEA was founded. Each year they did rides which extended farther east and by 1980, they were riding and carrying mail the entire 2,000 miles of the trail.
The annual re-ride takes place each June, on even numbered years, they travel east, and on odd numbered years they go west. The re-ride this year is a 10 day event, which started on June 10, in St. Joseph, Mo., and will end on June 20, in Sacramento, Calif.
Over 750 riders participate in the event and carry the mail day and night, 24 hours a day, until the mail reaches the destination, according to the NPEA.
2024 Re-Ride Route
The annual re-ride takes place each June, on even numbered years, they travel east, and on odd numbered years they go west.
This year’s Pony Express Re-Ride left St. Joseph, Mo., on Monday, June 17 and entered Nebraska on Tuesday, June 18.
On Wednesday, June 19, the re-ride passed by Fort Kearny during the early morning hours and then arrived south of Overton around 10:40 p.m.
Horses and riders were changed as the route passed through northern Phelps County and then entered Gosper County before carrying on to Cozad during the afternoon.
The re-ride was expected to end in Old Sacramento, Calif., during the afternoon of Thursday, June 27.
