Pony Express arrives in Carson City Thursday during annual re-ride
Submitted by Brett Fisher on Wed, 06/20/2018 - 2:22pm
The annual Pony Express Re-ride, a re-enactment of the original Pony Express Route that spanned nearly 2,000 miles passing through what are now seven western states, is returning to Carson City this Thursday.
Organized and produced by the National Pony Express Association (NPEA), the re-ride runs the full 1,966 miles between Sacramento, CA, and St. Joseph, MO.
This year marks 40 years since the NPEA was founded and 158 years since the original Pony Express Riders carried mail across rugged plains, mountains and deserts for the firm of Russell, Majors and Waddell.
Rider and mochila, the saddle-mounted mail pouch, are scheduled to arrive in the Nevada state capital around 7 p.m. Thursday evening at Bob McFadden Plaza in downtown Carson City, where Third and Curry streets come together.
Once exchange is made, the Pony Express makes its way up the hill east of Carson City to Mound House, then into Dayton and along the Carson River to Ft. Churchill State Park, near the site of an original Pony Express station.
Dozens more exchanges will take place before the mochila leaves Nevada, a route covering more than 400 miles and over 60 hours of ride time.
Nevada and its capital played key roles in the Pony Express, which once had an office on downtown Carson Street.
The horse-mounted mail is scheduled to depart Sacramento Wednesday at 3 p.m., riding east across the Sierra Nevada to Genoa, its first stop in the Silver State.
More than 600 riders participate in the Pony Express Re-ride each year, commemorating a system that revolutionized mail delivery by completing runs half-way across the country in a matter of days instead of weeks or months by wagon.
Riders travel day and night to make the 10-day trip from California, through Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas and into Missouri. A GPS that is carried in the Mochila at all times and linked to a live, interactive map of the ride.
A Pony Express rider is scheduled to arrive in St. Joseph on June 30 to conclude the re-ride event.
The Pony Express operated only 19 months, running mochilas stuffed with thousands of pieces of mail from April 1860 until November 1861 when the service was discontinued following the completion of the transcontinental telegraph.
Follow the route and rider schedule at xphomestation.com.
- Carson City
- 000
- along the Carson River
- April
- Bob McFadden Plaza
- CA
- California
- carson
- Carson River
- Carson Street
- City
- country
- day
- downtown
- Downtown Carson
- event
- Genoa
- Hours
- Leaves
- live
- McFadden Plaza
- Mound House
- Mountains
- National Pony Express Association
- Nevada
- News
- Pony Express
- Rider
- Riding
- running
- Schedule
- service
- Sierra
- Sierra Nevada
- silver
- state
- travel
- Utah
- Wednesday
- western
- Dayton
- Downtown Carson City
