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Horseman Garry Cooper and son Corbin celebrate the mail’s arrival.
Webb’s relay partner Ron Tolland, 45, a database marketer
for General Electric in Pagosa Springs, Colo. (pop. 1,591),
adds: “The parr I look forward to every year is the ride into
Scottsdale to the post office. You got 35 to 40 riders on horse
back charging down Scottsdale Road. It makes the hair on
the back of my neck stand up. People on the sidewalk are so
overcome they jump up and down. Some have tears in their
eyes. It’s incredible to see.”
A group of riders from the Navajo County Sheriff s Posse made
the first run to Scottsdale in 1958 and called themselves the Hash
knife Pony Express. The term “Hashknife” comes from a cattle
brand registered to the onetime Aztec Land and Cattle Co., which
opened a sprawling ranch in northern Arizona near Holbrook in
the late 1880 s. The sheriffs posse is permitted limited use of the
brand as a logo for its Pony Express.
The following year, in 1959, the Scottsdale Jaycees again
invited the posse to carry letters along the route, this time to
kick off the city’s annual Parada del So! celebration—billed
as “The World's Largest Horse-Drawn Parade” —and they’ve
been doing it every year since.
“The first time we left Holbrook it was dirt alt the way to
Fort McDowell, recalls Gayle Perkins, 71 and retired, a rider
in the inaugural run. “There was no pavement. Back then, we
rode seven miles at a time. You’d get right in the middle of
the road and nobody would come by. No police escorts. There
weren’t any of these semis either.”
Experience of a lifetime
Along the route, sightseers display genuine appreciation
of the event. “It's fascinating,” exclaims Jean Condon, who,
along with her friend Carolyn—both from Newport, Vt.—
trek around Arizona each winter. "I ’m a history buff and I just
read a book about the Pony Express last year, so this is kind of
(Continued on page 8)
Be part of history
To have letters delivered by the Hashknife Pony Express,
submit them to the Holbrook Post Office no later than 5
p.m„ Monday, Jan. 29, 2007. Enclose letters with regular
postage inside another envelope with regular postage and
mail to: Postmaster, Holbrook, AZ 86025. Write “Via Pony
Express” in the lower left-hand corner.
www.americanprofile.com •
Page 7
Birth of the Pony Express
Amidst the rush for gold in California and the unrest of pending Civil War, the Pony
Express was born—the private enterprise of overland freighters Russell, Majors and Waddell.
On April 3, 1860, Pony Express rider Johnnie Frye galloped out of St. Joseph, Mo., bound
for San Francisco. The express service could deliver a letter to the West Coast in 10 days, less
than half the time that a stagecoach could manage. The cost per letter was $5 per half ounce,
though later it dropped to sl.
The old mail route traversed eight states: Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming,
Utah, Nevada and California. Riders averaged 6.6 mph and changed horses every 12 to 15
miles, while riding up to 100 miles before a fresh horseman relieved them.
The original route contained 190 relay stations spanning 1,966 miles between St. Joseph
and San Francisco, with the last leg via steamboat down the Sacramento River. In its brief
18 months, the Pony Express made 308 trips, covering more than 600,000 total miles —the
equivalent of circling the globe 24 times. Of the 34,753 pieces of mail successfully delivered
during that time, only one mailbag was lost. On Oct. 24, 1861, with the “talking wires” of the
transcontinental telegraph wire in operation, the Pony Express made its final ride.
ATTENTION
DIABETIC METER
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So far in 2006 there have been
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There were over 20 different
Class I High Risk Recalls for
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YOUR CURRENT METER
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