Origins of the Pony Express by Donna Schlachter with Giveaway

Pony Express stable, St. Joseph, Missouri. The original wooden structure, built in 1858, was replaced by a brick building in 1888, but some of the original posts and beams were reused. U.S. National Park Service

The Pony Express holds a favored position in the history of the United States, evoking images of brave young men racing across dangerous territory for the sole purpose of delivering the mail from one end of the country to the other. However, the idea for a horse relay over a great distance is attributed to the Mongolian conqueror, Genghis Khan, more than 600 years before that established in 1860. In addition, newspapers in New York and Boston also used horse relays to carry news beginning around 1825. However, nothing compared to the distances and treacherous trails of the Pony Express.

While no doubt many discussions were held in America regarding the feasibility of a horse relay to connect the established eastern half of the country with the newly-explored western territories, none of these conversations bore fruit until three men sat together. Some allege that B.F. Ficklin, the general superintendent of the Russell, Majors, and Waddell freight company. However, it wasn’t until January 1860 that Russell began planning in earnest, supported by Gwin and a government contract for mail service to begin in April. This meant the company had less than three months to prepare.

First, Russell, Majors, and Waddell set up a separate corporation, the Central Overland California & Pike’s Peak Express Company, for liability purposes. They bought equipment; built, bought, or leased facilities for way stations and home stations; lured experienced freight men and stationmasters from other companies; and hired riders.


The Pony Express Trail followed the Oregon Trail from St. Joseph, Missouri, west through Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming and into Utah. West of Salt Lake City, it left the trail and went southerly through Nevada, ending in San Francisco.

Because the mail had to travel quickly in order to meet the 10-day delivery time, almost 200 relay stations were established along the route. Each rider left a home station, where he lived, traveled at top speed to the next station, traded out his mount and taking only the mail pouch with him. Depending on the weather and terrain, a rider might do this three to ten times a day. Then, he would rest up at the home station, and return the opposite direction when the next rider came through.

Map of the Pony Express route
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (digital file no. tr000221)

 
Hundreds of top quality horses were purchased. In the east, thoroughbreds from Missouri through Kansas, but then cow ponies and Indian ponies were used after that. Half breed California mustangs, well-fed with the best grain, were ideal.

While modern-day posters show a plea for young men who were also orphans, preference was given to fit, slightly-built men who could ride well. Candidates pledged to refrain from drinking and cussing while employed with the Pony Express, and each was sworn in and issued a Bible. Guns were optional, and most riders refused to carry them because of the extra weight. Knowing the trail and the area was a plus, since a horse could easily wander from the path in heavy rain or a snowstorm. Stories abound of riders falling asleep in the saddle and simply letting the horse carry them to the next station.



 

Hollenberg Station, Hanover, Kansas
U.S. National Park Service

Once stations were established, staff hired, and the route finalized, the company set up collection points for mail and channeled it to St. Joseph and San Francisco. A schedule was set, which had to be adhered to or, better yet, beaten. Getting the mail through was the motivating force, since the company founders knew two things: the Express would end in 18 months once the telegraph came through, and the company would never have a chance at its main goal—the US Mail contract—if it didn’t deliver the mail on time for the next year and a half.

Next month, come back and learn about the end of the Pony Express.

Win a free copy of Hollenberg Hearts: Leave a comment to the following question, and remember to cleverly disguise your email address so I can contact you if you win.

Question: What’s your favorite horseback riding story? Share a quick story, and leave your email address in this format: donna AT livebytheword DOT com

Here’s mine: Hubby took me horseback riding for my birthday. We rode for 4 hours with no trouble. Less than a hundred feet from the barn, my mare decides she’s had enough. She reared then bucked. I dug in my heels, gripped the reins, and brought her back under control. The trail rider employee behind me said, “Nice job”. I was just glad not to end up on the ground.

About Hollenberg Hearts:

Catherine Malloy escapes a poor past in response to a mail order bride ad her best friend answered. However, Margaret dies before meeting the man who owns horses and property in Kansas.

Benjamin Troudt works for the Hollenberg family at their way station in Kansas, and owns nothing but the clothes on his back. Unbeknownst to him, his pastor is corresponding with a potential wife from back East for him.

When Catherine, now calling herself Maggie, arrives, Benjamin knows nothing of the pastor's match-making, and rejects her. However, a seriously ill pregnant woman needs tending. Perhaps Maggie can prove herself useful.

Not only does she do just that, but she finds herself attracted to the very man who is looking for ways to send her away.



Buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Hollenberg-Hearts-Pony-Express-Book-ebook/dp/B098VZ38XY

About Donna:

A hybrid author, Donna writes squeaky clean historical and contemporary suspense. She has been published more than 50 times in books; is a member of several writers groups; facilitates a critique group; teaches writing classes; ghostwrites; edits; and judges in writing contests. She loves history and research, traveling extensively for both.

www.DonnaSchlachter.com Stay connected so you learn about new releases, preorders, and presales, as well as check out featured authors, book reviews, and a little corner of peace. Plus: Receive a free ebook simply for signing up for our free newsletter!

Resource: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pony-Express

Pony Express Women--Sophia Hollenberg and Hollenberg Station

A footnote from history by Stephanie Grace Whitson www.stephaniewhitson.com

The challenge of learning about the women who were an important part of the "supporting cast" of the Pony Express led me to nineteen-year-old Sophia Brockmeyer (pictured later in life at right),

a German immigrant who settled in Kansas with her family, married the neighbor (the only neighbor at the time) and joined her husband of only one year in establishing Hollenberg Station. Sophia's first home at this location was a one-room log cabin with a dirt floor. That one room served as kitchen, living room, bedroom, and store. 

If I had to feed a family using only a box stove like the one pictured below, we'd all be in big trouble, but box stoves were a great improvement over fireplaces. They provided even heat and helped eliminate the threat of long skirts and petticoats catching fire from the open flames in a fireplace. The lack of an oven would have made fine wheat bread impossible, but Sophia could have prepared corn bread and soda bread in iron pans atop the stove. Fueled by the abundant firewood available nearby, this little stove would have kept the log cabin warm all through the long Kansas winters.

A box stove

While the image of a one-room log cabin is often thought of as a synonym for "loneliness," because their business was located on the California-Oregon Trail, the Hollenbergs probably saw as many as 15,000 people a year pass by. Yes. Thousand.

Two years after settling into the log cabin, the Hollenbergs added a post and beam room to one side of the log cabin and a lean-to kitchen on the other. Imagine Sophia's joy at having a dedicated kitchen! Hopefully that included a bigger and better stove, too. A root cellar beneath the kitchen (see the trap door in the photo below) and more expansion continued until the station became what it is today, still located on its original site and cared for by the State of Kansas as a historic site.

Hollenberg Station in the distance

Kitchen showing trap door

Today, visitors cross the Oregon trail when they walk from the visitor's center to the station itself. Hollenberg Station was the 1800s equivalent of convenience store, motel, and restaurant/tavern. Customers would have included immigrants headed west, freighters, Pony Express riders, stagecoach drivers, and stagecoach passengers. Hollenberg offered Sophia's hot meals (billed at 26 1/2 cents each), supplies, postal service (letters could be left for the stagecoach to transport to various destinations), and even a bed for the night, the latter accessed by steep stairs leading to an unfinished attic above the main rooms. 

The Hollenbergs would have worked long hours to keep their station running, with Sophia cooking, cleaning, gardening, and doing laundry while Gerat ran the store located just behind this

counter in the station's main room--and the tavern. Together--and with the help of Louisa, their niece and a young man Gerat helped immigrate from Germany--the Hollenbergs produced much of the food served at their station. Travelers in the late 1800s mentioned a large garden and even an orchard at Hollenberg. Every fall, meat was preserved by drying, smoking, or salting. Garden produce was dried and stored in the root cellar beneath the kitchen. Canning would have also been possible by the late 1800s. 

After the telegraph put the Pony Express out of business, the Hollenbergs continued to operate their store, post office, and stage station until 1872, when they moved into Hanover, a town Gerat had helped lay out--a town named for his home in Germany. Gerat encouraged other Germans to immigrate to the area and began to deal in real estate. He also served three terms in the Kansas Territorial Legislature.

Sophia was widowed in 1874 when Gerat died on a trip to Germany. He was buried at sea. She remarried Judge William Kalhoefer in 1875. The couple had one son who died in infancy. Her tombstone is gray granite and it bears only the name Sophia Kalhoefer, her birth date, and her death date (1914--one year after my own mother was born). No one seeing Sophia's gravestone would imagine the history behind the name or that this woman was witness to the Oregon Trail and the Pony Express.  

See more photos of Hollenberg Station and plan your visit at http://www.kansastravel.org/hollenbergstation.htm.

What's your favorite historic site? Why? Answer to enter a drawing for a free copy of Stephanie's newest book. Keep reading to learn more about it.

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Stephanie's new release, Messenger by Moonlight,
features young Annie Paxton who's been "hornswoggled" into working as a cook at a Pony Express Station near Fort Kearney, Nebraska. Sophia Hollenberg has a cameo appearance ... and even shares a recipe.

In celebration of Stephanie's third book with them, FaithWords is featuring all three of her FaithWords ebooks for only $3.99 each. Here's the link for the newest:

http://amzn.to/1Wo3iwr

Pony Express Artifacts ... and Stuff

A footnote from history by Stephanie Grace Whitson

Do you like to wander museums and wonder about the people who owned or used the things on display? I've been that way for years. Learning about the Pony Express for the next novel took me to some out-of-the-way museums in Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas. Today I thought I'd share some of the things I saw that provided me a tactile connection to people in the past. 

This quilt is on display in Washington, KS and is said to have been made and used by Sophia Hollenberg. The table and pitcher and bowl to the right are also attributed to the Hollenbergs. Sophia and Gerat Hollenberg ran Hollenberg Station, still on its original site and a fascinating place to visit. Thinking of the woman who lived here and who saw literally thousands of covered wagons pass by on the way west, I wonder ... what was that like?

Here is Hollenberg Station today ... walking from the visitor's center to the station, visitors cross the California-Oregon Trail. I imagined creaking wheels and maybe even a child laughing as they trotted along beside the family wagon, heading out after camping between the station and Cottonwood Creek. 

The Hollenberg's first station was a log cabin. This is the kind of stove Mrs. Hollenberg cooked on. (My family would have had to endure a lot of second-rate fare while I figured this one out!) 

Pony Express Riders were issued tin horns to blow as they approached a station. But the horns weren't really necessary, as sound carried far, and the horns were soon abandoned. This one is on display at the Washington County KS museum.   

This wagon attachment is on display at the visitor's center attached to Hollenberg Station in Kansas. Do you know what it is?

What small museum have you visited and loved? Tell us about it!

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Stephanie Grace Whitson has been writing novels since 1994. Thomas Nelson published her debut novel, Walks the Fire, in 1994. In May of this year, Messenger by Moonlight will tell the story of Annie Paxton and her brothers Frank and Emmet. Annie dreams of living in the "big city." When her brothers sign on to be Pony Express riders and get Annie a job as a cook at a remote station in Nebraska Territory .... well. You can imagine, right. Learn more at http://www.amazon.com/Messenger-Moonlight-Stephanie-Grace-Whitson/dp/1455529087/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454988553&sr=8-1&keywords=Messenger+by+Moonlight            

To learn more about Stephanie and her books, visit www.stephaniewhitson.com or www.Facebook.com/stephaniegracewhitsonofficial