PLACERVILLE, Ca. (InEDC) — March 3, 2023
Application forms for a special letter to be carried along this year’s National Pony Express Association (NPEA) Pony Express Re-Ride are now available in Green River at the Sweetwater County Historical Museum, the U.S. Post Office, and the Chamber of Commerce & Visitors’ Center.
The Pony Express was a unique old west express mail service between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. Relays of lone riders carried mail in special saddle covers called mochilas, traveling both ways from St. Joseph, Missouri, through Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada, to Sacramento, California and back.
Mail carried from Missouri to California (or the reverse) by stagecoach took a good 24 days to arrive, and was often delayed even longer, sometimes for months. The Pony Express averaged the same trip in only 10 days. Nearly 200 relay stations were established along the roughly 2,000-mile route, about 10 miles apart through country that was often wild and dangerous.
The first re-ride of the Pony Express was held in 1923. Beginning in 1980, the National Pony Express Association has held a re-ride every year, except in 2020. This year’s ride is scheduled to begin in Sacramento on June 7, with arrival in St. Joseph on June 17. The deadline for submitting application forms is May 1 for “personal letters” and May 17 for “commemorative letters.” Click here to review the application form.
For more information about the National Pony Express Association and the 2023 Re-Ride, go to the NPEA website.
Last year’s NPEA envelope and cancellation stamp.
