RE-RIDE YEAR 2008 SCHEDULE
NATIONAL PONY EXPRESS ASSOCIATION
SACRAMENTO , CALIFORNIA - ST. JOSEPH, MISSOURI
JUNE 18 - 28, 2008

The National Pony Express Association will once again conduct a Re-Ride of the Pony Express Trail from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, June 18 to 28, 2008.

This re-ride will be a 10-day, 24-hour a day, non-stop event by over 500 riders and horses. The 1,966 mile route will be over the Pony Express National Historic Trail from California, through Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas to Missouri.  It is the longest event held annually on a historical trail in the nation, even surpassing the famed Iditarod.

The event commemorates the Pony Express of 1860-1861. The Central Overland and California Pikes Peak Express Company carried letters and telegrams for 19 months to prove the Central Route through Salt Lake passable year round. The owners hoped to win a federal mail contract on that route. Pony Express history is preserved in the federally designated Historic Trail, administered by the National Park Service, in museums, Pony Rider monuments, books, and the annual re-creations by the NPEA.

Riders will carry Commemorative Letters in a Mochila, Pony Express style. The cachets, honoring Pony Express history, will be available for purchase by NPEA members, historians, and philatelists. The envelopes will show they were carried by the Pony Express and the first class postage will have a special US Postal service cancellation. Only the number of letters purchased will be carried.

Communications between Riders and Ride Captains are provided by amateur radio operators in the states of California, Nevada, and Utah. Links to their web pages are listed below. Also, for the first time, a GPS unit will be carried in one of the cantinas on the Mochila. The size of a deck of cards, the GPS unit will transmit the location of the Mochila every five minutes to a satellite. The unit will be active for the entire length of the Re-Ride. 

*** [ Anyone wishing to see the Pony Express riders should be aware that they may be anywhere from two hours ahead to two hours behind schedule ! ] ***


Depart Sacramento , California
Wednesday, June 18, 9:00am PDT

[California Departure Ceremony starts at 8:30am.]

Depart Folsom Museum
Wednesday, June 18, 12:44pm PDT

Depart Pleasant Grove House
Wednesday, June 18, 2:09pm PDT

Depart Rescue Post Office
Wednesday, June 18, 2:39pm PDT

Depart Diamond Springs Post Office
Wednesday, June 18, 4:11pm PDT

Depart Hangtown ( Placerville ) Chamber of Commerce
Wednesday, June 18, 4:46pm PDT

Depart Sportmans Hall
Wednesday, June 18, 6:19pm PDT

Depart Brockliss Bridge
Wednesday, June 18, 8:04pm PDT

Depart Strawberry
Thursday, June 19, 1:35am PDT

Depart Picketts Junction
Thursday, June 19, 5:05am PDT

Arrive Woodfords , California
Thursday, June 19, 5:55am PDT

Depart California/Nevada State Line ( Woodfords )
Thursday, June 19, 6:00am PDT

Arrive Genoa , Nevada
Thursday, June 19, 9:00am PDT

Larry McPherson will read a Proclamation from Governor Jim Gibbons declaring June 19th as Pony Express Day in the State of Nevada . Larry will present a copy of the proclamation to the Genoa Museum .

Depart Carson City , Nevada
Thursday, June 19, 11:00am PDT

Depart Fort Churchill
Thursday, June 19, 4:00pm PDT

Depart Top Gun Raceway
Thursday, June 19, 8:00pm PDT

Depart Sand Springs
Thursday, June 19, 12:00am PDT

Depart Cold Springs
Friday, June 20, 4:30am PDT

Depart Railroad Pass
Friday, June 20, 9:30am PDT

Depart Grubbs Well
Friday, June 20, 5:30pm PDT

Depart Overland Pass
Saturday, June 21, 12:30am PDT

Arrive Ibapah
Saturday, June 21, 5:30pm PDT

Information can be accessed from the Re-Ride Update Page.

• 2008 Re-Ride Schedule
• News Release #1
• News Release #2
• News Release #3
• Wanted: Special Correspondents
• 2008 Re-Ride In The News
• Reports from the Trail
• Photo Album
• S.I.E.R.A. Watching the Pony Riders in Nevada since 1989
• DCARC again brings short wave radio coverage to Utah
• RAMS brings short wave radio coverage to California

The Pony Express  is the most widely known short-lived piece of Americana. It lasted only 18 months, from April 3, 1860, to Oct. 25, 1861. Established by the Kansas express firm of Russell, Majors, and Waddell , the Pony Express was in its time the fastest way to get mail to California. It was also the most expensive. In 10 days, riding across 1,966 miles, smallish young men (usually in their early teens) would bring 20 pounds of mail from St. Joseph to Sacramento. The cost to send a letter via Pony Express in those days was five dollars per half ounce, which to the average person was a lot of money. (That’s approximately 120 dollars today.) Due to high expenses and the lack of government subsidies, the Pony Express was going broke a year after its creation.

In April 1861, Wells Fargo took control of the Western portion of the Pony Express. Wells Fargo carried letters from Salt Lake City to Sacramento and San Francisco for the last six months of the Pony Express' existence. Wells Fargo helped reduce the cost of postage from the hefty five dollars to just two dollars a half ounce, then reduced the cost even lower, to one dollar, in July 1861. At these prices the Pony Express became more affordable to people and businesses.

Even with the low rates that Wells Fargo offered, the Pony Express would last only a few more months. Technology would put an end to the legend: The telegraph delivered messages faster than anyone on horseback and for a very low cost. On Oct. 25, 1861, Wells Fargo ended its involvement in the Pony Express, marking the end of the 18-month adventure.

Yet the Pony Express lives on in American lore . And for 10 days each year, riders bring letters from St. Joseph to Sacramento, just as they did 147 years ago. All of us here at the Wells Fargo Museum in Old Sacramento are awaiting the Re-ride  and will let everyone know the legacy that Wells Fargo has shared with such a great piece of American history.