 The 150th Anniversary of the Pony Express
The original Pony Express was organized 150 years ago in 1860
between the U.S. Postal Service and three American transportation
pioneers - William H. Russell, Alexander Majors and William B.Waddell.
The Pony Express Riders were all very young and mostly single. When the
U.S. Postal Service celebrated the 100-years of the U.S. Mail in 1960,
there was a re-enactment ride across the original trail. This ride was
1966 miles between St. Joseph, Mo. (which was the westernmost point that
the railroad and the telegraph had reached) and Sacramento, Ca.
Now another 50 years have passed and there are various 150-year
celebrations being planned throughout the U.S. This year, the Pony
Express re-run is starting in San Francisco by boat to Sacramento -
leaving Sacramento June 6 - and will arrive in St. Joseph on June 26
with various activities planned along the route.
Casey Anderson was one of the riders in the 1960 re-run. His ride was
#483 West from Pacific House to Sportsman’s Lodge in California - 7
miles of rugged Sierra Nevada Terrain. To commemorate the occasion, he
and songwriter wife Liz Anderson wrote the official Pony Express song
which the U.S. Postal Service adopted that year as their official song
for the celebration. The Postal Service had a traveling display of the
100 years of the U.S. Postal Service. The display went to all state
fairs and the song played over display speakers every 20 minutes.
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