Pony Express rides again... and again

by Sharlene Irete

People Editor

The mail will again be carried by horses and riders from Sacramento to St. Joseph, Mo., to commemorate the 148th anniversary of the Pony Express.

The riders covered 1,966 miles in 10 days carrying letters and telegrams in a mochila by horse relay. The Pony Express ran for 18 months from 1860 to its last day of business, Oct. 24, 1861. The formation of the telegraph system put an end for the need of the Pony Express.

This year's Pony Express Re-ride will run today through June 28. Stagecoach resident Larry McPherson will carry a proclamation into Genoa at about 9 a.m. Thursday, which has been designated by Gov. Gibbons as Pony Express Day.

Gardnerville resident Bob Moore, past president of the Nevada Division of the National Pony Express Association, will be riding his leg of the re-ride from Fairview Lane to Red Barn Ranch at about 7 a.m. Thursday.

"After a 1960 centennial re-ride was put on, people wanted to keep it up and a Nevada division of the re-riders was formed in 1978," Moore said. "Our goal was to get the original trail marked and include it in the National Trail System. In 1998, President Bush signed a bill creating the Pony Express Trail and the California-Oregon Historic Trail.

"Bill Harrah was one of the riders in 1960 and had a huge collection of original Pony Express stuff. He had two statues of Pony Express riders made " one is in front of Harrah's at Lake Tahoe and the other was at the company headquarters in Tennessee."

This is Moore's 31st Pony Express re-ride.

"I'll continue as long as I can get on my horse," he said. "I'm 85 now and I just got off my horse."

The horse Moore will be riding is a 5-year-old greenbroke mustang that he bought at auction last year.

"Last April I lost my horse to cancer. It was so empty without a horse so I went to the auction. I've been getting him used to cars and traffic," Moore said. "I named him Casey but I should have called him 'Oreck' because he's like a vacuum cleaner. He'll eat anything " sagebrush, juniper, cheatgrass."

The National Pony Express schedule may be found at xphomestation.com