View from camp at Fort Schellbourne on Saturday evening

It was dinner time while the rainbow appeared, so I didn’t get any shots of it until later when it was faded quite a bit – this is the photo that you see here. We had BBQ’d cheeseburgers for dinner and the evening was absolutely perfectly – no wind, warm, and just enough clouds with the rainbow and lighting to make for fabulous scenery in every direction.

Imagine that in 1861, Pony Express riders saw similar views as they rode on the Pony Express trail through this area.

Here is a bit of history on the Pony Express:

The Pony Express was a horse relay mail carrying system operating in both directions between Missouri and California. The service carried the mail in 10 days from St. Joseph to Sacramento, and cut in half the time required to send mail by coach. It continued for 18 months, from April 1860 until October 1861, when the cross-country telegraph was completed.

In all, 308 runs were made each way, delivering 34,753 pieces of mail. Postage was $5 per half ounce at first, but was later reduced to $1 a half ounce. Each run carried up to 20 pounds of mail. Most accounts indicate about 90 Pony Express riders, 119 relay stations and 500 horses were used at one time or another during the 18 months.

On an average day, the Pony Expressman rode 75 to 100 miles. They changed horses at relay stations, placed about 10-15 miles apart, transferring his “mochila” (a saddle cover with four pockets or “Cantinas” for mail) to the new mount at the same time. This leap from the old mount–mochila in hand–to the fresh horse took about two minutes. The rider ended his duty at major “home” stations.

The Pony Express ran through parts of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California. It is not surprising that it captured the essence of much of our whole national pioneer history, nor that it fired the nation’s imagination. Since the dawn of history, mail couriers have had great popular appeal.

The ancient Greek historian, Herodutus, produced the unofficial motto of the modern mail service when he wrote about another rapid horse relay postal system operating in ancient Persia, hundreds of years before Christ’s birth. Herodutus’ familiar words of about 2,500 years ago are: “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night, stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

The Pony Express mail service was extremely important to the development of the American West, despite its short life.

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