Rundus: Pony Express was an innovative institution
There is a general belief that the United States Postal Service has an adopted creed or motto, which goes like this: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.''
An Internet site, www.Infoplease.com, however, points out that this statement "is just the inscription found on the General Post Office in New York City at 8th Avenue and 33rd Street."
I believe it is also a common belief to link that motto's beginning with the advent of the Pony Express delivery service in April 1860. And we often do tend to think of our mail carriers as getting their work done, no matter the weather or other adverse conditions. It is possible, however, that we can quit expecting this faithful and loyal work to continue very much longer on Saturdays, and that is probably a sound idea that will save considerable money.
Two weeks from tomorrow, April 1, will be observed as the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the fabled Pony Express, a distinctly American, innovative institution which is rich in tales of determination and courage that transcend the bare bones of the historical record.
The Pony Express was in operation only about 18 months, from April 1860 to October 1861, and covered, in as few as 10 days, a one-way distance of about 1,900 miles, from St. Joseph, Mo., to Sacramento, Calif. From St. Joe to Salt Lake City, it roughly followed established routes of the Oregon Trail, the California Trail and the Mormon Trail. Those deep and permanent ruts across part of the native prairies on my grandparents' estate south of Blue Rapids, Kan., must have come from great wagons moving through there at some time. The ill-fated Donner Party must have been following the route of the Oregon Trail most of the way. Many perished while snowbound in the Sierra Nevadas in a mountain pass later named after them.
It is truly remarkable that such an ambitious project as the Pony Express could have been conceived and brought into being even before a railroad route linking one coast to the other for the first time. Since each pony and rider could go with his sack of mail about 10 miles, it was necessary to establish some 190 stations.
An important junction and destination of the Pony Express was the Marshall County seat and its largest town, Marysville, 11 miles north of Blue Rapids, my hometown. When the riders going west left their easy route, they headed north to Fort Kearney, Neb. The Marysville site is memorialized by a statuary exhibit west of town and a museum in the downtown area.
A remarkable sidebar to this very brief story: my first cousin, Bob Rundus, whom I recently described as having "a sharp memory only exceeded by his advanced age," served some time in the United States Army as a photographer. He remembers having met an older man named Charlie Miller, who claimed to have been a Pony Express rider. He met the man in New York City during World War II.
Bob had his doubts at first, but would later discover that 'Bronco' Charlie Miller was actually the youngest Pony Express rider at 11 years old. He died at 105, was with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show for a time and allegedly rode his horse from New York to the West Coast.
Charlie Miller certainly lived what now seems to have been a unique life, and he may be regarded as one of the prime examples of "American rugged individualism."
We can acknowledge that they don't make them like 'Bronco' Charlie Miller any more. But we can aspire at times to his condition: If we just still keep workin' on it.
Raymond J. Rundus is a professor emeritus at UNC-Pembroke. He has lived in Cypress Lakes since 1985 and is former president of the Cypress Lakes Men's Golf Association. He can be reached at rjrundus@infionline.net.