The sound of galloping horses is ringing out this week along the Pony Express Trail from Scramento, California, to St. Joseph, Missouri, as the National Pony Express Association reenacts the service which connected the United States prior to the completion of the transcontinental railroad.
The first rider with a mochila full of mail left Old Sacramento at 2 p.m. yesterday (Wednesday). The mail is scheduled to pass through Nevada, Utah and Wyoming before reaching the Nebraska stateline near Lyman at 2:30 p.m. mountain time one week later. If the schedule is kept, the mochila will reach the Tri-County Marker on the Nebraska-Kansas stateline at 10 p.m. Central Daylight Time of Friday, June 16. The ride is to conclude at the Patee House in St. Joseph, Missouri at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 17.
Approximately 600 riders will relay the mail along the 1,966 mile route through eight states. Each rider will carry the mail about 1.5 miles in the 10-day around the clock marathon. The Pony Express operated from April, 1860, to November, 1861, and followed the Oregon Trail through Nuckolls County.
The mail is expected to reach Oak at 2 p.m. on Friday, June 15 and two miles north of Hebron by 4:15 p.m. and the Rock Creek Historical Park near Fairbuy at 8:15 p.m.
Based upon past rides, we expect a lone rider will come galloping into Oak from the west and stop in front of the Oregon Trail Park. The rider will quickly dismount, the mochilla will be moved to a waiting horse. The rider of that horse will lift a boot into the saddle’s stirrup swing onto the horse and gallop east out of town.
The mail may be late but if you want to see the Pony Express arrive and depart from Oak, don’t be late as the show won’t last long. Generally, a number of people are present to observe the activity and try to visualize what it must have been like to be a Pony Express rider 162 years ago.
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