A Brief History of the Rodeo

 by Jennifer Uhlarik

I have loved the Old West since I was a young girl, and I’ve written stories set in the Old West since I was high school. But I’ve been a dweller of the suburbs all my life. I’ve never owned a horse, have ridden horseback only infrequently, and until this past weekend, I’d never gone to the rodeo. That all changed on Saturday when the hubs and I went to a small rodeo at the local county fairgrounds.

 

The rodeo was a fairly small one, in my estimation. The pre-show was fun, with two handfuls of young children doing some mutton busting. I gotta say, those kids were spunky, and some of them were durn tough! Then, as the sun set, the real show began. It started with five or six brave young men competing in bronc riding, followed by ten or so bull riders. A totally silly intermission of “bull soccer” broke up the events. What is bull soccer, you ask? The asked for four athletic audience members to don those giant bubble suits and get into the arena with a bull and let the 2000 pound beast knock them around for entertainment. Once that was done, another round of bronc riders vied for top spots, then another set of bull riders. The final event of the night was the women competing in barrel racing. Overall, I had fun, despite the fact that only about half the bronc riders made qualifying 8-second rides and none of the bull riders did on this particular night.

 

In spite of the fact I’d never been to a rodeo until now, I have long known the origin of our modern-day rodeo. Do you? In case you’re unfamiliar, here’s a brief rundown.

 

A Mexican vaquero

The term “rodeo” comes from the Spanish word rodear, which means roundup. From that, you might guess that rodeo’s roots come out of the Mexican ranch workers known as vaqueros. If you did make such a guess, you’d be right. Throughout the early 1800s, these vaqueros made sport of doing their ranch chores, competing with other ranch workers to see who was better able to ride a wild horse and who could rope the best. Soon, the competitions grew so that one ranch was vying against another in crazy festivals of sport.

 

After the Texas Revolution (1835-36), and particularly after the United States annexed Texas in 1845, the vaqueros intermingled with American cowboys, and these competitions grew even more. Another big boost to the growing competitions came after the end of the Civil War, when former slaves traveled West and became cowboys. All of these men became the early fabric of our modern-day rodeos.

Jesse Stahl, one of the best bronc riders in history,
circa 1928

 

The next big boost for modern rodeo came in 1883, when one William F. Cody—better known as Buffalo Bill—began his traveling Wild West Show. Despite the fact that the “wild” west was quickly taming into a more populated and genteel place than in previous decades, Buffalo Bill Cody’s show cemented the romantic notion of its wildness. Among the many facets of his exhibition, sharp-shooting, roping, trick riding, bronc busting and the like were on display for all to see.

 

Only a handful of years after Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show got its illustrious start, one of the earliest official rodeos was held in Prescott, Arizona, on July 4, 1888. Others, like the Cheyenne Frontier Days, were held in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1897, and even more in the first decade of the 1900s. The sports that comprise rodeo were gaining traction, and by the 1930s, the competitors founded the first cowboy union after having to fight for fair compensation for their work. 

 

Today, that same union—the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association—still exists, albeit after at least two name changes. It lists over 5000 competitive members and several thousand more in non-competitive roles, and it hosts hundreds of events each year, culminating in the finals, where millions of dollars in prize money is given away.

 

It’s Your Turn: Have you ever been to a rodeo? If yes, what was your favorite event? If no, do you desire to see one? Why or why not?

 

Award-winning, best-selling novelist Jennifer Uhlarik has loved the western genre since she read her first Louis L’Amour novel. She penned her first western while earning a writing degree from University of Tampa. Jennifer lives near Tampa with her husband, son, and furbabies. www.jenniferuhlarik.com

 

 

AVAILABLE NOW

 

Love’s Fortress by Jennifer Uhlarik

 

A Friendship From the Past Brings Closure to Dani’s Fractured Family

 

When Dani Sango’s art forger father passes away, Dani inherits his home. There, she finds a book of Native American drawings, which leads her to seek museum curator Brad Osgood’s help to decipher the ledger art. Why would her father have this book? Is it another forgery?

 

Brad Osgood longs to provide his four-year-old niece, Brynn, the safe home she desperately deserves. The last thing he needs is more drama, especially from a forger’s daughter. But when the two meet “accidentally” at St. Augustine’s 350-year-old Spanish fort, he can’t refuse the intriguing woman.

 

Broken Bow is among seventy-three Plains Indians transported to Florida in 1875 for incarceration at ancient Fort Marion. Sally Jo Harris and Luke Worthing dream of serving on a foreign mission field, but when the Indians reach St. Augustine, God changes their plans. However, when Sally Jo’s friendship with Broken Bow leads to false accusations, it could cost them their lives.

 

Can Dani discover how Broken Bow and Sally Jo’s story ends and how it impacted her father’s life?

 

 

 

And They Call the Thing Rodeo

By Cindy Regnier 

It’s bulls and blood
It’s dust and mud
It’s the roar of a Sunday crowd

At least that’s how Garth Brooks describes it and I guess I’d have to agree. Do you enjoy rodeo? Ever wonder how it got started? As one of my favorite sports (next to my alma mater football) I’ve always been interested in its beginnings. Let’s delve into it and see what we can find out.

You may be surprised to learn that rodeo is a little more complex than boots, cowboy hats and fancy belt buckles. Rodeo is actually a unique of blend of cultures and traditions with its roots in Spanish origin. Modern day rodeo in our country dates back to the cattle industry of the American West, but it was greatly influenced by Spanish conquistadors in the 1700s.

Today’s rodeo developed many of its practices from Spanish ranchers and their Mexican ranch hands, or vaqueros. The word “rodeo” itself is derived from the Spanish word “rodear” meaning “roundup,” in reference to the roundup of cattle. As pioneers from the East interacted with the Spanish, Mexican, Californian, and Texan cowboys, they took on many of the vaqueros’ styles and traditions of ranch life.

The blending of Anglo and Spanish-Mexican cultures led to the birth of the American cowboy era in the 1800s. Breaking horses to ride and catching cattle for branding, doctoring, and sale required roping and riding skills on the frontier ranches. In the 1820s and ’30s ranch-versus-ranch contests began to spring up with cowboys and vaqueros testing their skills against each other.

Branding

It wasn’t until after the Civil War, however, that the cowboy era truly began, as ranchers from the Southwest organized cattle drives to deliver cattle to trains where they would be transported East. At the end of a drive, cowboys would hold informal competitions against each other to see which group had the best skills in riding and roping. These events soon became competitions on for public display at race tracks, fairgrounds, and festivals.

Some folks believe the first official rodeo was held in 1869 in Deer Trail, Colorado, when two groups of cowboys from neighboring ranches met to settle an argument over who was best at performing everyday cowboy tasks, including breaking wild horses, which is today’s saddle bronc riding event. Over the years, a culmination of skills and techniques from Spanish-speaking cowboys, vaqueros, and cowboys from the East combined to bring us today’s modern rodeo. 

Many others claim to be the first rodeo in the U.S., including Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1872; Winfield, Kansas, in 1882; and Pecos, Texas, in 1883. Still, these early contests were primarily simple displays of riding and roping skills and not the organized events now standard in today’s rodeo industry.

From the 1880s through the 1920s, frontier days, stampedes, and cowboy contests were the most popular names of what we now call the rodeo. Buffalo Bill Cody 

Buffalo Bill

and his Fourth of July Wild West show in North Platte, Nebraska, in 1882 was the first competition to offer prize money, with Prescott, Arizona, claiming to hold the “first formalized rodeo” on July 4, 1888. From there, Cheyenne Frontier Days in 1897, the Pendleton Round-Up in 1910, and the Calgary Stampede in 1912 followed as popular rodeo venues.

Initially, rodeo was a fairly nondiscriminatory sport, often including Hispanic, African American, Native American, and female contestants in an era when race and gender discrimination were commonplace. Women competed in many events at mixed-gender rodeos well into the 1930s. During this time, ladies often competed against men and won in a variety of rodeo events, including bronc riding and steer roping, as well as trick and fancy roping and riding.

One of the more well-known female competitors was Phoebe Ann Moses Butler. Butler grew up in a poor family in Ohio, where she took up hunting to provide for her family after her father died. From those marksman skills developed as a hunter, she earned the nickname “Little Sure Shot” and joined Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show as Annie Oakley in 1885.

Annie Oakley

In 1929, two events occurred that changed the course of rodeo history:
1.Well-known cowgirl Bonnie McCarroll died in a bronc riding accident at Pendleton, Oregon, leading many rodeos to drop women’s contests.

Bonnie McCarroll

2.The Rodeo Association of America was formed by rodeo organizers, and not the cowboys themselves, to standardize rules, establish a point system, monitor judges, and establish fair prize money. In large part because of McCarroll’s death, the RAA was organized as an all-male entity.

1945 marks the year professional cowboys officially adopted the term “rodeo” for their sport. The PRCA went on to sanction the events and rules for saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, bull riding, calf roping, steer wrestling, team roping, and steer roping.

Women realized it would be up to them to get back into the mainstream of the sport and in 1948, the Girl’s Rodeo Association, now the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA), was started by a group of Texas ranch women. The WPRA was highly successful in restoring cowgirl contests to PRCA rodeos. Barrel racing was the most popular WPRA contest, and it spread rapidly throughout the country. It is now the only women’s event standard at PRCA rodeos and often ranks second only to bull riding in popularity.

It’s boots and chaps
It’s cowboy hats
It’s spurs and latigo
It’s the ropes and the reins
And the joy and the pain
And they call the thing rodeo

Rand Stafford isn't looking for true love. He'd ridden that trail leaving behind a shattered heart. He only needs a wife to help him care for his orphan nieces.
Fleeing her former employer, a newspaper advertisement reads like the perfect refuge to Carly Blair. Escaping the city to hide herself on a cattle ranch in Kansas is her best shot for freedom. But its sanctuary comes with a price—a husband. While marrying a man she doesn't know or love means sacrificing her dreams, it's better than being caught by the law. Or is it?

Part Calamity - All Jane

By Kathy Kovach

The other day, I walked through the room as my husband had the Western Channel on. Some of the TV shows and movies in the western genre are, shall we say, less than accurate. I mean, come on. Playing cards with numbers on them? The wrong train whistles? Rough and tumble women with coral lipstick, false eyelashes, and pearls?

Yep, that last one really got to me. The actress was Judi Meridith in The Raiders (1963) and she was playing Calamity Jane.

Of course, when it comes to unlikely actresses taking on the iconic role, Doris Day and her tiny waist comes to mind. Other bombshell actresses to play the frontier woman include Jane Russell in The Pale Face, Yvonne de Carlo (The Munsters) in Calamity Jane and Sam Bass, and Anjelica Huston in Buffalo Girls. The latter played her closer to the vest.

With all the singing, hair flipping, and doe eyes for Bill Hickok, it made me wonder who the real Calamity Jane was.

Much of her life is shrouded in mystery and tall tales, some told by the woman herself. Let me be clear. Any truths about Calamity Jane have been blowing like ash from a long dormant campfire and many “experts” disagree on certain points. One seemingly accurate researcher tackled the subject and believes he was able to separate the truth from the myth. James D. McLaird refutes just about everything you’ve ever heard. But the larger-than-life legend is so much more interesting. If you wish to learn what he found, I suggest you visit Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok (historynet.com)

Born Martha Jane Canary on May 1, 1856 in Princeton, Missouri, she died on August 1, 1903 at the age of 47. It’s said she looked twice her age at 30 due to a hard life.

That hard life started with her father who was a farmer (or gambler. . .or perhaps a gambler turned farmer,) and her mother, a prostitute. Both died leaving pre-teen Martha, the oldest of six, to take care of her siblings. It was on the wagon train with her family that Martha learned how to be a teamster, driving a team of oxen, using a 30-foot bullwhip to spur them on.

Much of the rest of her story is filled with adventure as she is said to have fought Native Americans, worked on the railroad, and according to her, rode for the pony express, though one or more of these accomplishments are probably just sensational tall tales. At one point, she became a scout at Fort Russell in Wyoming, something McLaird refutes. She also worked in saloons, and for a brief time followed the family business (the world’s oldest profession.) She did anything needed to take care of her brothers and sisters. Again, McLaird believes her siblings were farmed out to family. He also claims that she often wore dresses and did women’s work. But, of course, we also know that besides the mundane, she also dressed like a man, shot like a man, and rode a horse like a man. Not to mention her penchant for alcohol, smoking, and, shall we say, colorful words.

Calamity and Bill Hickok rode into Deadwood in June of 1876 in the same wagon train party. They became friends, but probably not lovers. A woman claiming to be their daughter surfaced, but it was proven fraudulent. Later, Jane supposedly married a man named Burke around 1885 and they did have a daughter. . .some think, others say no. Calamity Jane's history is so sketchy! Hickok and Calamity shared similar interests as both were dime novel celebrities and no doubt drank together. They’re buried near one another in the Deadwood cemetery, which fuels the imagination as to their relationship. If one were to weed through the sensational stories, one would find that the two only knew each other for a couple of months. Hickok was murdered while playing poker on August 1, 1876 by a man who was avenging his brother's death. Apparently, the lawman killed him in another town. Hickok was holding two pair: black aces and eights. This has been dubbed the dead man’s hand as a result. Twenty-seven years later, Jane was on a train and became ill. She made it to the Calloway Hotel in Terry, near Deadwood where she died on August 1, 1903, on the anniversary of Hickok's death. Her demise was most likely from her life of hard drinking.

At the grave of Bill Hickok in the 1890's

Deadwood, Dakota Territory

Somewhere along the way, she earned the name Calamity Jane and embraced the fitting moniker, even writing her own dime novel of her (ahem) true exploits. No doubt most of it was a work of fiction, but she read it aloud to eager audiences, I imagine performing some of the action.

To capitalize her notoriety, by 1893 she became employed in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show run by Bill Cody. In 1901, she traveled with the troupe to Buffalo, New York and the World’s Fair Pan-American Exposition.

In her kitchen with a cigar

Livingston, Montana 1901

Among the wild tales, Martha Jane had a heart of gold. It's been said that she exhibited compassion to the sick and needy. She worked as a nurse during a smallpox outbreak in Deadwood, volunteering to work where the fainthearted dare not go. 

Tall tales aside, Martha Jane Canary turned out to be a colorful character in our nation’s history. She may not have been your run-of-the-mill pioneer woman, but if she had been, she never would have carved her name, Calamity Jane, into our hearts.

MissAdventure Brides Collection
Seven daring damsels don’t let the norms of their eras hold them back. Along the way these women attract the attention of men who admire their bravery and determination, but will they let love grow out of the adventures? Includes:
"Riders of the Painted Star" by Kathleen E. Kovach

1936 Arizona
Zadie Fitzpatrick, an artist from New York, is commissioned to go on location in Arizona to paint illustrations for an author of western novels and falls for the male model.

Kathleen E. Kovach is a Christian romance author published traditionally through Barbour Publishing, Inc. as well as indie. Kathleen and her husband, Jim, raised two sons while living the nomadic lifestyle for over twenty years in the Air Force. Now planted in northeast Colorado, she's a grandmother, though much too young for that. Kathleen is a longstanding member of American Christian Fiction Writers. An award-winning author, she presents spiritual truths with a giggle, proving herself as one of God's peculiar people.

Website

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The Pony Express in a Nutshell By Donna Schlachter -- with Giveaway

Poster advertising for riders

Most people know a little about the Pony Express, but few realize it only operated from April 1860 through to November 1861. The first ride left St. Joseph, Missouri heading west, and from Sacramento, California heading east, on April 3rd, 1860. 

The idea for a Pony Express was conceived in the minds of its owners because of the possibility of winning the contract for the overland US mail. Another company, Butterworth, was running a southern route that took up to three weeks to deliver to the west coast, and Majors and Waddell thought they could beat that time by taking the shorter northern route.
The irony of the matter is they never won the contract; instead, they merged with Butterworth to form the Overland Mail Company, and closed with the Pony Express over $200,000 in debt.


From idea to the first mail run took less than six months. First they identified the easiest and shortest route; then they contracted with stagecoach stops, mercantiles or other businesses in small towns and cities for the home stations, where a rider lived and worked, making his runs about a hundred miles east and west. For the relay stations, where horses were changed out, the Pony Express contracted with ranches, outfitters, and ordinary folks to stable three to six horses and have somebody on hand with a saddled horse for the incoming rider. These relay stations were fifteen to twenty miles apart, depending on the terrain. Sometimes they had to start from scratch and hire somebody to build a barn, corral, and cabin to be in the right place at the right time.

For a period of about six weeks in the Spring 1861, the mail run was halted due to unrest between settlers and the native peoples, and while records aren’t clear, it appears no rider or mail bag was lost during the eighteen months of its operation. However, there are stories that talk about a horse shot out from under its rider and the mail bag being stolen, only to be recovered a year later.

As with any great piece of history, there will be myths and stories told. Among the famous legends are that Buffalo Bill Cody rode for the Pony Express. Records and recollections vary and contradict each other, but it is possible he rode for them for a short time as a young boy. Another great story is that women disguised themselves as men in order to sign up, but again, records are not clear whether this is true or not. However, it is documented as fact that women did sign up as soldiers in the Civil War, so it could be true.

Riders were hired for their ability to ride, endure the elements, as well as perform other necessary tasks around the home stations. Posters that advertise for wiry orphans are not completely true, but no doubt orphans could have been preferred. The pay started at around $25 a month plus room and board, which was a lot of money in those days, particularly for a teenage boy. However, along with their horsemanship and ranch skills, they were also exhorted not to drink, not to cuss, and not to shoot people without cause. At their swearing-in, each took an oath to act like a gentleman, and were issued a handgun, a rifle, and a Bible. Most carried their rifle in a scabbard, but often left the pistol and Bible in their bunk to reduce weight.

The time period, 1860, fascinates me as there were so many changes happening in America. The train is a near dream; the cross-country telegraph is nearing completion; the country is brewing for civil war; women are campaigning for voting and civil rights. In just a few short years, cameras will photograph the first war ever; telephones will be installed in people’s homes; electricity will light our lives into the dark of night. Despite the changes, one thing is sure: the Pony Express lives on in our hearts and our folklore much longer than it actually ran.

In my story in the “Pony Express Romance Collection”, Echoes of the Heart, both characters are running from bad situations, which mirrors the thinking of the day: go West and start over.

Leave a comment, and I will draw a lucky winner of a print copy (US only) of “Pony Express Romance Collection”.

Donna writes historical suspense under her own name, and contemporary suspense under her alter ego of Leeann Betts, and has been published more than 30 times in novellas, full-length novels, and non-fiction books. She is a member of ACFW, Writers on the Rock, SinC, Pikes Peak Writers, and CAN; facilitates a critique group; teaches writing classes; ghostwrites; edits; and judges in writing contests.

Echoes of the Heart: http://amzn.to/2lBaqcW
www.HiStoryThruTheAges.wordpress.com
www.HiStoryThruTheAges.com Receive a free ebook simply for signing up for our free newsletter!
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Books: Amazon: http://amzn.to/2ci5Xqq and Smashwords: http://bit.ly/2gZATjm About Echoes of the Heart:

Catherine Malloy, an orphan girl running from a compromising situation in Boston, answers a personal ad in a magazine, on behalf of her illiterate friend. Through his letters, she finds herself falling in love with this stranger. Benjamin Troudt is crippled and illiterate, and knows nothing of this ad. His route supervisor, Warton, who was helping Benjamin with the paperwork, has been given only a short time to live, and knows Benjamin needs help, so he places the ad. Can Catherine overcome her belief that the God of her parents has abandoned her? And can Benjamin allow God to open his eyes and his heart to love?

Ride 'Em Cowboy

It's Rodeo Time

In September I wrote about the history of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. That will begin here in Houston at the end of February. The one in San Antonio began last week. That made me curious about rodeos and wild west shows like Buffalo Bill's.

I discovered that rodeos are much older than most ever give them credit for being. Spanish ranchers along with their Mexican ranch hands (vaqueros) got together for cattle wrangling and bullfighting as far back as the sixteenth-century.

The vaqueros started equestrian contests and called them charreadas. They also practiced steer wrestling which had been part of an ancient tradition dating back to the days before the Olympics when the ancients practiced bull jumping, bull riding and bull wrestling. It is believed that bull wrestling could have been an ancient Greek Olympic event.

The events eventually found their way to the United States in the nineteenth-century at fairground, racetracks, fiestas, and festivals. However, the events of bull jumping and bull wrestling didn't have that much appeal to Anglo cowboys or audiences. Anglo cowboys preferred roping, riding, and racing. Those events were still enjoyed in Mexico at the charreada, the style of rodeo originating in Jalisco, Mexico.

If not for a Texan black cowboy named Bill Pickett, steer wrestling most likely would never have made its way into our rodeos. He's the one who devised the method of bulldogging similar to what we see today. He would jump from his horse to the steer's back, bit its upper lip and throw it to the ground by grabbing its horns.  His performances at rodeos in Central Texas led to his being discovered by an agent who signed Bill for a tour of the West. The publicity from his bulldogging at the 1904 Cheyenne Frontier Days brought him a contract to travel Oklahoma 101 Ranch Wild West shows. He is now a member of two rodeo halls of fame, recognized as the inventor of the event. That's the only rodeo event ever attributed to one individual. 

                            Picture by NormanFilms  Public Domain

Believe it or not, women appeared in rodeos in the early days of the twentieth-century. The first one was Tillie Baldwin who was a champion trick and bronc rider and racer. In 191, at an exhibition, Tillie participated in bull dogging, but women's contest    never took on, but it made the cowboys more  enthusiastic for the sport without the lip-biting. 

After the Texas Revolution, Texas Anglo cowboys learned everything about the sport of the vaqueros. Ranch versus ranch contests sprang up all over the state with events such as bronc riding, bull riding, and roping contests appearing at race tracks and fairs. 

Then along came William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) 

He created the first major rodeo to tour the nation along with his Wild West show. It opened in North Platte, Nebraska in 1882. His show was so successful that others attempted to create their own which led to professional rodeo. The two enjoyed a parallel existence with one capitalizing on the allure and fame of the other. Their popularity grew and women joined the circuit in the 1890's. Then animal welfare groups began targeting them and are still doing so today.

The actual word "rodeo" was only used occasionally for American cowboys until the 1920's, and even then, professional cowboys didn't use the term until 1945. In those early days, no standardization of the events occurred until 1929. Up to that time, frontier days, stampedes, and other cowboy contests grew in popularity. In 1897, Cheyenne Frontier Days inaugurated it's celebration and even today is one of the most significant of the annual celebrations around the country. The organization of these events fell to the local citizens and their committees who planned everything and chose all the events, made the rules, and arranged for everything else from the stock to officials. Winners at this competition were even considered "World Champions" until 1922. 

As the wild west shows died out, the cowboy competitions remained. Spectators would now pay to see the competitions and the cowboys paid to compete. The money went into a pool to make up the prizes for the winners. Many towns began having their own local rodeos just as they do today in towns like Prescott, Arizona and Cheyenne, Wyoming did in the early days. 

Much more is to be learned about how rodeos became the professional organization it is today and the pitfalls they faced. 


Houston is know for its annual Livestock Show and Rodeo in late February and early March. I loved attending those rodeos and still attend the livestock show on occasion. My favorite event has always been the barrel racing with saddle bronco riding next. 




Since I didn't have enough to have a drawing in December, we'll do it this month for a chance at my book about a barrel-racing rancher's daughter.
Have you ever been to a rodeo? What would be your favorite event? Be sure to leave your email address and comment by midnight Friday, February 14 to be in the drawing. 

Kylee is the youngest of the Danner clan and drops out of college to barrel race full-time and spend more time with her rodeo sweetheart, Jesse Martin. Connor Morris, known as Jesse Martin on the rodeo circuit, is in love with Kylee, but he hides his true identity from her. When the truth of his identity as Connor Morris is revealed in a news item on television, along with a woman claiming to be his fiancee, Kylee is devastated. Connor now has the task of explaining the news bit she saw is not what it appeared. He must gain back not only her trust, but also that of her brothers and her father.  

Martha Rogers is a multi-published author and writes a weekly devotional for ACFW. Since receiving her first novel contract at age 73, Martha has written and published over 50 books. Martha and her husband Rex live in Houston, Texas where they are active members of First Baptist Church. They are the parents of three sons and grandparents to eleven grandchildren and great-grandparents to five. Martha is a retired teacher with twenty-eight years teaching Home Economics and English at the secondary level and eight years at the college level supervising student teachers and teaching freshman English. She is the Director of the Texas Christian Writers Conference held in Houston in August each year, a member of ACFW, ACFW WOTS chapter in Houston, and a member of the writers’ group, Inspirational Writers Alive.

Find Martha at:  www.marthawrogers.com                   Twitter: @martharogers2                                                                      Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/MarthaRogersAuthor                                   

  

The Pony Express & Overland Mail Service

By Miralee Ferrell

I really, really want to write a book featuring a Pony Express rider, as I love writing books set in the Old West. The Pony Express existed for such a short time in history. It was in operation from April, 1860, to October, 1861--only a short 18 months. It made an impact on our nation and is still depicted in books and movies today, and it's strongly associated with the Old West. In the era before any type of electronic communication, the Pony Express is what tied the East to the West. 

And here's something I didn't know prior to researching this subject...there were other's who came before the Pony Express--the Butterfield Overland Mail Service started deliveries in 1857 along with other private carriers in the following years. However, Butterfield did things a bit differently--he didn't send out riders who changed horses at each station, he sent the mail by stage. 

A Butterfield stage wagon on the trail, early October 1858, in Arizona by William Hayes Hilton. This drawing is a good representation showing the wild mules used to pull the stage wagons on the rougher sections of the trail. Some wild horses were also used. Credit for this photo goes to https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-butterfield/

Here's an interesting quote from a reporter who rode the stage/mail route on the very first trip. Had I not just come out over the route, I would be perfectly willing to go back, but I now know what Hell is like. I’ve just had 24 days of it.”

—Waterman Ormsby, special correspondent for the New York Herald, after having made the first westbound trip on the Butterfield Stage.

  From Wikipedia...
The Pony Express was set up on a different basis. William Russell, Alexander Majors, and William Waddell organized and put together the Pony Express in two months in the winter of 1860. The undertaking assembled 120 riders, 184 stations, 400 horses, and several hundred personnel during January and February 1861.[7]

Majors was a religious man and resolved "by the help of God" to overcome all difficulties. He presented each rider with a special edition Bible and required this oath,[8][9] which they were also required to sign.[10]

The actual name of the company wasn't Pony Express, it was the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company. And I love this oath--can you imagine anyone asking an employee to sign this today? From Wikipedia...

I, ..., do hereby swear, before the Great and Living God, that during my engagement, and while I am an employee of Russell, Majors, and Waddell, I will, under no circumstances, use profane language, that I will drink no intoxicating liquors, that I will not quarrel or fight with any other employee of the firm, and that in every respect I will conduct myself honestly, be faithful to my duties, and so direct all my acts as to win the confidence of my employers, so help me God."
— Oath sworn by Pony Express Riders[11][12]

It's also hard to conceive that a man riding a selection of horses, trading off at each station for a fresh horse, and traveling on trails and dirt road and crossing eight states, could make it from Missouri to California, a trail cover 1966 miles, in 10 days! Buffalo Bill Cody was one of the most famous riders who worked for the Pony Express and made those wild rides from East to West. Riders encountered Indian attack, accidents, wild animals, and other dangerous situations on their ride across country, risking their lives to deliver the mail.

Pony Express stables in St. Joseph, Missouri. Photo by Wikipedia poster in August 2006
In 1860, there were about 186 Pony Express stations that were about 10 miles (16 km) apart along thePony Express route.[7] At each station stop the express rider would change to a fresh horse, taking only the mail pouch called a mochila (from the Spanish for pouch or backpack) with him. (Wikipedia)

So why did the Pony Express fade away after only 18 months? The first transcontinental telegraph was established October 24, 1861, where messages could be sent easily from one side of the country to the other.

The National Pony Express Association (NPEA) strives to keep the spirit and memory of the Pony Express alive. NPEA was established in 1978 to honor the memory and endeavors of the Pony Express riders of 1860-1861 and to identify, preserve, and mark the original Pony Express route through the eight states it crossed: Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California. (From https://nationalponyexpress.org/)

In 1992, Congress added the trail to the National Trails System as a Historic Trail, administered by the National Park Service.
Miralee Ferrell is a best-selling, award-winning writer who lives in the Pacific NW with her husband, two dogs, two cats and seven chickens. Many of her books are set in the Old West, but she also has a few contemporary novels as well as a set of five middle-grade horse novels with a sixth in the works. She had the privilege of having one of her book, Runaway Romance, made into a movie. It aired on UP TV in January and is now available on Hallmark on Demand. You can find out more about Miralee HERE
 My featured book is Finding Love in Bridal Veil, Oregon, a historical romance set in 1904 in the Columbia River Gorge, where I live. It contains a number of historical facts woven into the story, and the book is going to be made into a TV movie as a contemporary, sometime in 2019.