Editing Pony Express (section)

==Famous riders==
{{For|a list of Pony Express riders|Category:Pony Express riders}}
In 1860, riding for the Pony Express was difficult work&nbsp;– riders had to be tough and lightweight. An advertisement allegedly read, "Wanted: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred," but one historian, Joseph Nardone, claims that it is a hoax (dating no earlier than 1902), as no one has found the ad in contemporary newspaper archives.{{sfnp|Thompson|2005}}

The Pony Express had an estimated 80 riders traveling east or west along the route at any given time. In addition, about 400 other employees were used, including station keepers, stock tenders, and route superintendents. Many young men applied; Waddell and Majors could have easily hired riders at low rates, but instead offered $100 a month{{snd}}a handsome sum for that time.{{sfnp|Reinfeld|1973|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=PSAOQ83qZ2cC&pg=PA49 49]}} Author [[Mark Twain]] described the riders in his travel memoir ''[[Roughing It]]'' as: "...&nbsp;usually a little bit of a man". Though the riders were small, lightweight, generally teenaged boys, they came to be seen as heroes of the American West.{{sfnp|Settle|Settle|1972|p=162}} There was no systematic list of riders kept by the company,{{sfnp|Settle|Settle|1972|pp=73–74}} but a partial list has been compiled by Raymond and Nancy Settle in their ''Saddles & Spurs'' (1972).{{sfnp|Settle|Settle|1972|pp=74–76}}

[[Wild Bill Hickok]] never worked as a rider and only worked as a stocktender for the Pony Express.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ponyexpress.org/historical-notes |title= Historical Notes|website=www.ponyexpress.org |access-date=2022-09-07}}</ref>

===First riders===
[[File:Riders Pony Express.jpg|thumb|{{center|Pony Express riders:<br />"Billy" Richardson, Johnny Fry,<br />Charles Cliff, Gus Cliff}}]]

The identity of the first westbound rider to depart St. Joseph has been disputed, but currently most historians have narrowed it down to either [[Johnny Fry]] or [[Johnson William Richardson|Billy Richardson]].{{sfnp|Root|Hickman|1946|loc=Note 358}}<ref name="NPSStables" />{{sfnp|Godfrey|1994|loc=[http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/poex/hrs/hrs2e.htm Chap 2 p. 5]}}<ref name="museum" /> Both Expressmen were hired at St. Joseph for A. E. Lewis' Division, which ran from St. Joseph to Seneca, Kansas, a distance of {{convert|80|mi}}. They covered at an average speed of {{convert|12+1/2|mph|0}}, including all stops.{{sfnp|Bradley|1913|p= {{page needed|date=June 2021}}}} Before the mail pouch was delivered to the first rider on April 3, 1860, time was taken out for ceremonies and several speeches. First, Mayor M. Jeff Thompson gave a brief speech on the significance of the event for St. Joseph. Then William H. Russell and Alexander Majors addressed the gala crowd about how the Pony Express was just a "precursor" to the construction of a transcontinental railroad. At the conclusion of all the speeches, around 7:15&nbsp;pm, Russell turned the mail pouch over to the first rider. A cannon fired, the large assembled crowd cheered, and the rider dashed to the landing at the foot of Jules Street, where the ferry boat ''Denver'', under a full head of steam, alerted by the signal cannon, waited to carry the horse and rider across the Missouri River to Elwood, Kansas Territory.{{sfnp|Settle|Settle|1955|p=58}}{{sfnp|Bradley|1913|p= 31}} On April 9 at 6:45&nbsp;pm, the first rider from the east reached Salt Lake City, Utah. Then, on April 12, the mail pouch reached Carson City, Nevada Territory, at 2:30&nbsp;pm. The riders raced over the Sierra Nevada, through Placerville, California, and on to Sacramento. Around midnight on April 14, 1860, the first mail pouch was delivered by the Pony Express to San Francisco. With it was a letter of congratulations from [[James Buchanan|President Buchanan]] to California [[John G. Downey|Governor Downey]] along with other official government communications, newspapers from New York, Chicago, and St. Louis, and other important mail to banks and commercial houses in San Francisco. In all, 85 pieces of mail were delivered on this first trip.{{sfnp|Bradley|1913|pp=46–47}}

James Randall is credited as "the first eastbound rider" from the San Francisco Alta telegraph office, since he was on the steamship ''[[:File:Steamer antelope.jpg|Antelope]]'' to go to Sacramento.<ref>
{{cite book
|title=The Pony Express
|author=Jean Williams
|publisher=Compass Point Books
|year=2002
|isbn=978-0-7565-0301-7
|page=27
}}</ref> Mail for the Pony Express left San Francisco at 4:00&nbsp;pm, carried by horse and rider to the waterfront, and then on by steamboat to Sacramento, where it was picked up by the Pony Express rider. At 2:45&nbsp;am, William (Sam) Hamilton was the first Pony Express rider to begin the journey from Sacramento. He rode all the way to Sportsman Hall Station, where he gave his ''mochila ''filled with mail to Warren Upson.{{sfnp|Godfrey|1994|loc=[http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/poex/hrs/hrs8b.htm Chap 8 p. 3]}} A California Registered Historical Landmark plaque at the site reads:

{{blockquote|This was the site of Sportsman's Hall, also known as the Twelve-Mile House. The hotel was operated in the late 1850s and 1860s by John and James Blair. A stopping place for stages and teams of the Comstock, it became a relay station of the central overland Pony Express. Here, at 7:40&nbsp;am, April 4, 1860, Pony rider William (Sam) Hamilton, riding in from Placerville, handed the Express mail to Warren Upson who, two minutes later, sped on his way eastward.|Plaque at Sportsman Hall}}

===William Cody===
[[File:Buffalo Bill Cody ca1875.jpg|thumb|upright|William "Buffalo Bill" Cody]]
Probably more than any other rider in the Pony Express, William Cody (better known as [[Buffalo Bill]]) epitomizes the legend and the folklore, be it fact or fiction, of the Pony Express.{{sfnp|Bradley|1913|p=127}}{{sfnp|Settle|Settle|1972|p=83}} Numerous stories have been told of young Cody's adventures as a Pony Express rider, though his accounts may have been fabricated or exaggerated.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Warren|first1=Louis S.|date=2008-04-01|title=Was He a Hero?|url=http://www.truewestmagazine.com/was-he-a-hero/|access-date=11 April 2017|website=True West|publisher=truewestmagazine.com|archive-date=February 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203034158/https://truewestmagazine.com/was-he-a-hero/}}</ref> At age 15, Cody was on his way west to California when he met Pony Express agents along the way and signed on with the company. Cody helped in the construction of several way-stations. Thereafter, he was employed as a rider and was given a short {{convert|45|mi|adj=on}} delivery run from the township of Julesburg, which lay to the west. After some months, he was transferred to Slade's Division in Wyoming, where he is said to have made the longest nonstop ride from Red Buttes Station to Rocky Ridge Station and back when he found that his relief rider had been killed. This trail of {{convert|322|mi}} was completed in 21 hours and 40 minutes, and 21 horses were required.{{sfnp|Settle|Settle|1972|p=162}} On one occasion when he is said to have carried mail, he unintentionally ran into an Indian war party, but managed to escape. Cody was present for many significant chapters in early western history, including the gold rush, the building of the railroads, and cattle herding on the Great Plains. A career as a scout for the Army under General [[Phillip Sheridan]] following the Civil War earned him his nickname and established his notoriety as a frontiersman.<ref>R. L. Wilson. ''Buffalo Bill's Wild West''.</ref>{{page needed|date=December 2024}}{{sfnp|Settle|Settle|1972|p=84}}<ref>{{cite web |first=Joshua |last=Johns |title=Pony Express History |publisher=University of Virginia |url=http://www.xphomestation.com/frm-history.html |access-date=December 10, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121140709/http://www.xphomestation.com/frm-history.html |archive-date=January 21, 2013 }}</ref>{{clear}}

===Robert Haslam===
[[File:Haslam.gif|thumb|upright|Robert "Pony Bob" Haslam in later years]]
[[Robert Haslam (Pony Bob)|"Pony Bob" Haslam]] was among the most brave, resourceful, and best-known riders of the Pony Express. He was born in January 1840 in London, United Kingdom, and came to the United States as a teenager. Haslam was hired by Bolivar Roberts, helped build the stations, and was given the mail run from Friday's Station at Lake Tahoe to Buckland's Station near Fort Churchill, {{convert|75|mi}} to the east.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

His greatest ride, {{convert|120|mi}} in 8 hours and 20 minutes while wounded, was an important contribution to the fastest trip ever made by the Pony Express. The mail carried Lincoln's inaugural address. Indian problems in 1860 led to Haslam's record-breaking ride. He had received the eastbound mail (probably the May 10 mail from San Francisco) at Friday's Station. When he reached Buckland's Station, his relief rider was so badly frightened over the Indian threat that he refused to take the mail. Haslam agreed to take the mail all the way to Smith's Creek for a total distance of {{convert|190|mi}} without a rest. After a rest of 9 hours, he retraced his route with the westbound mail, where at Cold Springs, he found that Indians had raided the place, killing the station keeper and running off all of the stock. On the ride, he was shot through the jaw with an Indian arrow, losing three teeth.<ref>
{{cite web
|title=Wyoming Tales and Trails
|url=http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/OregonTrail4.html
|access-date=December 10, 2012
}}</ref>{{Self-published source|date=April 2022}}
Finally, he reached Buckland's Station, making the {{convert|380|mi|adj=on}} round trip the longest on record.{{sfnp|Settle|Settle|1972|p=162}}

Pony Bob continued to work as a rider for Wells Fargo and Company after the Civil War, scouted for the U.S. Army well into his 50s, and later accompanied his good friend "Buffalo Bill" Cody on a diplomatic mission to negotiate the surrender of Chief [[Sitting Bull]] in December 1890. He drifted in and out of public mention, but died in Chicago during the winter of 1912 (age 72) in deep poverty after suffering a stroke. Buffalo Bill paid for his friend's headstone at [[Mount Greenwood]] Cemetery (111 Street and Sacramento) on Chicago's far south side.{{sfnp|Corbett|2003|pp=198–199}}

===Jack Keetley===
[[File:Jkeetley.jpg|thumb|upright|Jack Keetley]]
Jack Keetley was hired by A. E. Lewis for his division at the age of 19 and put on the run from Marysville to Big Sandy. He was one of those who rode for the Pony Express during the entire 19 months of its existence.

Jack Keetley's longest ride, upon which he doubled back for another rider, ended at Seneca, where he was taken from the saddle sound asleep. He had ridden {{convert|340|mi}} in 31 hours without stopping to rest or eat.{{sfnp|Bradley|1913|p=109}}<ref name="Visscher">{{cite book|last=Visscher|first=William Lightfoot|title=Pony Express, A Thrilling and Truthful History|publisher=Vistabooks|year=1980}}<!-- A Thrilling and Truthful History of the Pony Express https://books.google.com/books?id=5ucpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP1 --></ref> After the Pony Express was disbanded, Keetley went to [[Salt Lake City]], where he engaged in mining. He died there on October 12, 1912, where he was also buried.{{sfnp|Settle|Settle|1972|p=100}}

In 1907, Keetley wrote the following letter (excerpt):

{{blockquote|Alex Carlyle was the first man to ride the Pony Express out of St. Joe. He was a nephew of the superintendent of the stage line to Denver, called the "Pike's Peak Express". The superintendent's name was Ben Ficklin. Carlyle was a consumptive, and could not stand the hardships, and retired after about two months' trial, and died within about six months after retiring. John Frye was the second rider, and I was the third, and Gus Cliff was the fourth.<br />I made the longest ride without a stop, only to change horses. It was said to be 300 miles and was done a few minutes inside of twenty-four hours. I do not vouch for the distance being correct, as I only have it from the division superintendent, A.E. Lewis, who said that the distance given was taken by his English roadometer which was attached to the front wheel of his buggy which he used to travel over his division with, and which was from St. Joe to Fort Kearney.<ref name="Visscher" />|Jack Keetley}}

===Billy Tate===
Billy Tate was a 14-year-old Pony Express rider who rode the express trail in Nevada near Ruby Valley. During the Paiute uprising of 1860, he was chased by a band of Paiute Indians on horseback and was forced to retreat into the hills behind some big rocks, where he killed seven of his assailants in a shoot-out before being killed himself. His body was found riddled with arrows, but was not scalped, a sign that the Paiutes honored their enemy.{{sfnp|McNesse|2009|p=105}}
[[File:Howard Egan.jpg|thumb|Photo of Major Howard Egan c. 1860s.]]

=== Major Howard Egan ===
Egan emigrated to the United States from Ireland with his parents in the early 1830s. While living in Massachusetts, he joined the [[Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)|Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints]]. He was with the pioneer party of 1847 that journeyed to the west to modern day Salt Lake City, Utah. At the start of the Pony Express, he was appointed Superintendent of the Division from Salt Lake City to Robert's Creek which is in present day Nevada. Egan filled in when others couldn't ride. After the Pony Express, he ranched and became involved with the court system in Utah.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Notable Riders |url=http://nationalponyexpress.org/historic-pony-express-trail/notable-riders/ |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=National Pony Express Association |language=en-US}}</ref>