- Hold onto your horses because this time, we're going Pony Express style.

That's coming up right now on "Wild Nevada."

- [Announcer] Support for PBS Reno and "Wild Nevada" comes in part from the William N. Pennington Foundation.

Bill Pennington was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and gaming pioneer, who built a legacy of community service in Nevada.

- [Announcer] And by Thelma B. and Thomas P. Hart Foundation, Kristine Perry, Margaret Burback, Mark and Susan Herron, in memory of Sue McDowell, Lloyd Rogers and Gaia Brown, Stanley and Neila Shumaker, and by individual members.

(gentle country music) (upbeat country music) - Hi, I'm Chris Orr, and this time, I'm starting at the California-Nevada border, right at the base of the Sierras.

But it's really not so much about where I'm starting as where I'm going, because this time, I'm gonna follow the 400 or so miles that it took the Pony Express to get through the state of Nevada.

Now, that's a whole lot of miles, and it was a whole lot of riding, so let's get going.

As you start any journey or trip, it's important to get a sense of the path ahead.

So for a look at the original Pony Express route in Nevada, I make a stop at the Mormon Station State Park in Genoa to meet map enthusiast and historian, Harmony Heywood.

So I've been thinking a lot about how lucky we are that Nevada's a Pony Express state, and so I thought it would be fun to maybe do a trip based on the Pony Express, and I realized I've never really looked at the route before.

- [Harmony] Yes.

- So thank you for bringing a map out, so I can actually look at it.

What a beautiful map this is.

- Yes, definitely.

It's a reenactment map that was made by the Union Pacific in the 30s.

- [Chris] Not only lays out the Nevada route, but the whole route that they had to take across.

- Yeah, there's almost 200 stations, and they're all actually listed on this map, and it goes from St.

Joseph to Sacramento.

Took 10 days to get the mail all the way across from here, but the largest portion, the 417 miles was Nevada's portion, and that was about 400 miles of desert, pretty much.

- [Chris] You know, and it's so interesting when you think about how often you need to stop for gas, or a bathroom break, or food.

- Water was a big problem, going through the central part of Nevada right there.

There's actually a mail system in place prior to the Pony Express called the Jackass Mail System.

They used mules, and that one actually built that whole route and all the stations.

When the Pony Express came in, they built the swing stations, and then they just sort of took over that already in existence mail route.

But it took it down from about 24 days to 10 days, so it was a big difference.

This is the only way to get messages across if something happens in New York, and you wanna find out in Sacramento.

There was no other way to do it.

- It's so interesting, 'cause you can kind of look, and I recognize some of the names, but some of these names are so new to me.

In my mind, I'm already picking which ones I wanna go visit.

Like... - Yeah, so most of 'em, you know, some of them are still standing actually, like a lot of those home stations became telegraph stations and so they continued use afterwards.

I mean, I've gone out to a few, you know.

I just get excited when you find like a rock.

I'm like, "Ah, it was here!"

But there's not a whole lot left in a lot of them, unfortunately.

- When you think about the Pony Express, you think of it as like a Western state experience.

But then when you look at a map, you realize there are only really a few states that actually are Pony Express states.

So we're pretty special, having this much of the Pony Express.

- [Harmony] Yeah, well, yeah.

Nevada had, yeah, a quarter of it.

I mean, 'cause it went all the way through Missouri, so you have to think, you know, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming.

It was definitely- - [Chris] And we took up a big section of this map.

- [Harmony] Yeah.

And now it's modern 50, so you know, it still follows the modern map.

- Well, thank you for sharing this with me.

- Of course.

- This is so cool to see.

(upbeat country music) - [Crowd] Ride her in!

- [Chris] Each summer, members of the National Pony Express Association recreate the Pony Express in a commemorative reride that runs 24 hours a day for more than 10 days.

Hardy riders and strong horses run as close as possible on the original trail to allow people to receive mail by Pony Express once again.

Riders and volunteers of the National Pony Express Association bring the history and the excitement of the reride to educational and informational events throughout the year.

- So they hired these young men like myself, 18 to 20 years old.

- I got the chance to enjoy one of the community events and visit with some of the riders at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park near Minden.

To learn more about what it means to be part of the reride, I talk with Pony Express rider, Arthur Johnson.

Well, Arthur, it's nice to meet you and Dusty out here.

- Thank you.

She's quite a ham.

- Yeah, she is.

What brought you to the project?

- I was raised in a very rural part of Nevada where we didn't have TV.

The Bookmobile came through and we borrowed books from the mobile library, and we read lots of early Western books and I was just intrigued from an early age about the Pony Express.

And then some people rode in probably the first one that went across Nevada in 1978, and they told us about it afterward.

Like, "I wanted to do that, I wanna do that!"

You know?

And then I never heard anything about it for years.

And then in 2008, my oldest daughter found out about it and tells me, you know, that afternoon, "Tonight, we're gonna go ride in the Pony Express."

I'm like, "What?

What?

What do you mean?

What are you talking about?"

You know, and some other friends and her went out and rode carrying the mail in that night there in June.

And so I'm like, that's not gonna happen again.

In 2009, when it comes around, I'm gonna be involved in this.

And so, yeah, 2009 was the first year and I've been involved ever since.

(crowd cheers) - [Chris] So what is your favorite part about being involved in the Pony Express reenactment?

- Well, I would say that what really does it for me, what really grabs my heart, is being out there in a rural place.

Not the city times when you, you know, and it's part of what you have to do.

But when you're out there in the middle of the night on a very rural trail and it's just like it was in 1860.

And you're just ride, you and your horse, and you're riding, you know, through either the desert or some of the mountains that we have in Nevada, and you can just, I don't know, hear the hoof beats of the past.

(gentle music) - What is maybe the most memorable ride you've ever had or your favorite ride that you've ever had?

- Okay, so that ride happened in 2012 and the mail got to me at about 5:00 AM, and this is out at Dry Creek.

And so we got up and, you know, had our horses saddled and ready and the mail came in and we headed up the trail.

A thunderstorm had come over the night before and it had rained a little bit.

We worked our way up to the top of that mountain range.

There was another rider waiting up there.

We handed off to him, and as we came down, the sun peeked over the hill.

The whole valley glistened like diamonds.

There was little drops of water on the brush and on the pine trees and on the junipers, like nothing I've ever seen.

And as we headed on down the trail, this buck with a gigantic rack of antlers stood up right beside us as we rode by.

Had probably been there when we went up, we just never saw him in the dark.

It was like the capstone on a perfect ride.

(gentle music) (upbeat music) - Ride her out!

- Yes, sir!

(crowd cheers) - With more than 750 riders and around a thousand letters involved in the reenactment, there are a stunning amount of logistics to pulling it off each year.

And part of that is handled by ham or amateur radio operators who provide support to the riders in several states along the way.

They're able to report the position of the pony to the ride captains and support the teams, and can communicate if there's an emergency or if medical assistance is needed for either a human or an equine.

This helps ensure the safety of the participants and the success of the event, especially in rugged and remote locations like much of Nevada.

I get a chance to talk with Ken Head about what providing this vital role means to him.

So how does ham radio and Pony Express get connected?

- We basically keep track of the riders and horses and call in their locations via relay stations on mountaintops.

47 to 50 ham operators, 10 different sections.

Smallest section is 23 miles.

My section is 73 1/2 miles.

- So what is your favorite part of providing support for the reenactment?

Why do you do it?

- The people, the horses, the animals, the history.

A lot of history from where I come from too in Placerville.

That's all gold country.

- [Chris] What is maybe your favorite memory of being out during it?

- My second year, middle of June, it snowed.

(Chris laughs) It snowed and rained at the end of the ride.

I had so much mud, I had to use a stick to clear my handle so I could get the mud off the side of the truck.

Yeah, that and helping out, helping out people.

We get vehicles that are stuck, get 'em unstuck.

I became a member of the Pony Express in California and Nevada so I could be more hands-on and help with the mochila handoffs.

In my Jeep, I carry 125 pounds of recovery gear and a trauma bag, big first aid kit.

I've given more first aid to horses than people.

(laughs) You know, they tend to get scratches and stuff being transported.

It's a pretty rough trail out there.

- And has your work with the horses and the riders ever made you wanna get on one of the horses?

- Yes, I would love to do a handoff, and I'm a qualified rider for the Schellbourne Group, but I've never had a chance to get on the horse.

And I just turned 70 and I'm getting too old.

Horses are crazy.

- (laughs) But Jeeps aren't crazy?

- I can predict what this is gonna do and it has air conditioning.

- Well, there is that, right?

What does it mean for you to be keeping it alive for the kids and for other people to understand what the Pony Express was?

- It has to be kept alive or it'll be lost.

Yeah, it has to be kept alive.

If it isn't, you know, it's gonna die.

As you can tell, it means a lot to me.

- [Chris] Appreciate you providing support for them, so... Oh, they do too.

- [Ken] Very serious about my riders and horses.

(upbeat music) (crowd cheers) - The reenactment clearly takes riders who are strong and not intimidated by some of Nevada's tough terrain, and riders or ponies with the endurance and stamina to match them.

Anne Martins, who's ridden the route and acted as team captain, explains.

So do I look the part of a rider?

- You do.

- I was gonna say I, you know, standing here, I feel like I'm about ready to get on a horse.

- (laughs) You are.

- [Chris] So not just the horse needs stamina, you as a rider need stamina.

- You need to be in shape.

Some people can't sit a trot for that long.

We like to keep the trot about seven miles an hour, five to seven miles an hour.

She does faster.

(laughs) You just wanna be comfortable and really have a partnership with your horse.

So the mail, when it leaves, gets locked.

They have little locks on 'em when we carry the mail.

- [Chris] Because it's actual mail that you guys are carrying during the reenactment.

- It's actual mail.

- So when you're out riding as a reenactor, not only are you following that route and recreating history, but you're actually delivering mail at the same time.

- [Anne] We are.

- [Chris] And before the reenactment, I imagine you're really testing the horse, making sure that they're in shape.

I mean, is it something you train for?

- We do what we call legging up.

Most people in Nevada are fortunate to ride year round.

Some people are so busy, they don't leg up until maybe a couple weeks before.

But I like to make sure that they're in good shape and I like to make sure that I am up for it, (laughs) which usually I am.

- I'm not making eye contact with Anne anymore because it's now just Sadie.

(Chris laughs) - There are so many people that have never heard of it.

I've ran into people that actually lived right by Old Town Sac and they never knew that's where it either starts or ends.

And then I've ridden out on Austin and met people from overseas that come here just to watch it.

So I guess it's just trying to get the word out and letting people know because a lot of people say, "I didn't know they did that."

And when they find out about it, it's just really exciting and they come out to to watch it, so... (upbeat music) - One of the best ways to get a sense of what it really means to be a Pony Express rider is of course to mount up and give it a try.

(upbeat music) (laughs) But he's definitely my speed.

If I'm delivering the mail, it'll be there next week.

Definitely not Pony Express Express if I'm the one riding it.

Pony it'll get there when I get there.

- [Anne] Yeah.

(gentle music) - As we follow the historic route, we leave Carson City and the community of Dayton behind and set out East.

Along the way is the scenic and historic Fort Churchill State Park.

And though there's much to explore in the area, our next stop is still further along the route, so we head down Highway 50 and continue about 26 miles east of Fallon.

(upbeat music) The Sand Springs Pony Express Station is located not far from the popular OHV destination, Sand Mountain Recreation Area.

Just off the highway, at the historic marker for the station, I meet archeologist Alice Baldrica.

Alice, thank you for meeting me out here.

- Well, I'm excited to be here because I have not been on site here for about 50 years.

I came out here as a student at UNR and to work on an archeological excavation that was run by Dr.

Donald Hardesty from the UNR Anthropology department.

- You know, it's funny, because when you think about the Pony Express, so often you think about maybe some of the old West and the horses and the riders.

And I don't always immediately think archeology.

- Pony Express ran for only 18 months, very short period of time.

There's a lot in the documentation, but you can learn so much more by looking at the archeology as to how people actually lived.

All there was here at the time was the tops of the walls to the building, the basalt walls.

And nobody knew whether it was a Pony Express station, a ranch house, nobody knew what it was.

So it was a suspicion it was a Pony Express station, but that had to be determined through archeological excavation.

And it was six feet of sand that covered the station.

So looking at us small student workers, knowing we weren't gonna cover this in any time soon, brought in the backhoe (laughs) to get the sand out very carefully, mind you, so as not to damage the archeological strata underneath.

- [Chris] So was there a reason why the excavation happened when it did in the '70s?

- [Alice] 1976 was the year of the bicentennial for the United States, and all federal agencies were charged with finding something that would celebrate our nation's rich history.

And part of that rich history was the Pony Express.

And it wasn't just a state history moment, it was all of the country.

- And the foundations are still standing?

- Yes, they are.

- Can we go take a look?

- I think we should.

- Okay.

I'll follow you.

(upbeat music) You know, Alice, this is much bigger than I expected.

When I was thinking Pony Express station, I guess I was thinking maybe like a stable or almost like a shack.

But this is pretty big.

- This is one of the bigger Pony Express stations that has been studied.

So there may be others back east, but here we had rooms that were added on at some point, even after the Pony Express ended operations.

Somebody was in here using it.

But we do know that every Express station would've had a place, a stables for the horses, a place to sleep.

They would've had an area where you could do blacksmithing of various kinds.

- This is fascinating.

It really is.

Not what I expected.

- No?

But you can see it's already filling.

I mean, it does not take long.

- So why did they establish it when they did and why did it last for such a short period of time?

- They had always had plans to be able to unite the west coast with the east coast.

They wanted California kept pretty close rather than being a separate republic.

The way to do that was to stay in touch.

Took 10 days, for example, for a letter on the east coast to reach Sacramento, and that was pretty darn good.

So that was a way of people keeping in touch with family members, for the US government to keep in touch with the states.

You're coming up on an election that would lead to a civil war as well.

So there was the need to let people know what was happening.

So, that was extremely important.

18 months, it ends.

They were way in the hole.

They kind of went bankrupt on the whole process.

Even though it was a success, they lost a lot of money.

- It's kind of an expensive thing to establish 80 some stations across that kind of terrain.

- [Alice] Yes.

And then the telegraph was laid at that point.

- So did having the Pony Express route go through the state actually help Nevada become a state, do you think?

- What really caused Nevada to be a state, mostly, is the silver strike in Virginia City.

So this was just a small part of it, but it's a huge part of the nation's past of drawing the nation together.

It's kind of interesting to me, instead of sending out news by Pony Express, they have to read the constitution of the state and send it off to Congress.

Here, they used a telegraph 'cause it was in use.

- That's a whole lot of tapping.

- That's a lot of tapping.

Yes.

I dunno how many hours it took.

- (laughs) Oh my gosh.

Well, thank you for sharing it with me.

It's amazing to stand here and kind of feel the history and the ruggedness all at the same time.

(gentle music) As we continue east on Highway 50, my next stop is not far away, at least by car.

But on horseback, the 35 miles to Cold Springs Pony Express Station would've taken more time and endurance.

The ruins of the Cold Springs Pony Express Station remain in a setting very similar to when they were built in 1860.

And the rock walls and foundations make it an interesting stop to visit.

But getting to them can sometimes create some confusion.

From the road, you see stone ruins and foundations, but those are actually a stage stop that was known as the Rock Creek Stage Station.

It is easy to mistake them for the Pony Express stop as you speed by on Highway 50, but the official route actually heads into the hills and away from the highway in this area.

So to find this part of the route, I'm actually on the opposite side of the highway from the stage station.

Look for the rest area and informational kiosk just off the road, and from there, it's a two mile round trip hike to get up to the ruins themselves.

And though this takes more effort to get to, the views and sense of history at this location make the trek well worth it.

(gentle music) From Cold Springs Station, the official Pony Express route actually leaves Highway 50 and runs south of the modern road for part of the way before it crosses 50 again just outside of the community of Austin.

(gentle music) The original route then pushes up into the rugged high desert and mountains north of Eureka.

And as it continues on, in this part of the state, the route is actually in between the modern day towns of Elko and Ely.

This part of the route can be challenging to follow, but I make a stop to visit it again at the Schell Creek Station, about 40 miles northeast of Ely at the intersection of US 93 and County Road 18.

There's a striking monument just off the highway that's interesting to explore and enjoy.

(upbeat music) But to get a sense of this stretch of the route, I decide to follow the path along the dirt road and into the mountains toward where Fort Schellbourne once stood.

This area is scenic and rugged.

It's another good example of some of the extremes that the riders and the ponies faced in Nevada.

Not only did they have to navigate the dry desert basins, but they also faced steep and rocky ridges covered with pine and juniper.

(upbeat music) As the route finally reaches the Utah border, it's actually south of Wendover and southeast of the path that alternate US 93 now runs.

As I look out over the desert into Utah, I'm struck by the length and the magnitude of the journey that it takes to get across the state of Nevada.

It's a big undertaking today, and it's stunning to think of how huge it was for the riders in the past to go from the mountains of the Sierra to the edge of the salt flats.

And it's amazing to think of the determination that it took for riders and mounts to get this far and then to still have so many more miles ahead.

That's all I've got time for in this episode, but it's been fascinating getting to follow the route of the Pony Express through the state of Nevada to learn more about its history and its legacy.

If you wanna learn more about this episode or any in the "Wild Nevada" series, visit our website at pbsreno.org and stream us with the PBS app.

And until my next "Wild Nevada," I hope you could have some Nevada adventures of your own.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Support for PBS Reno and "Wild Nevada" comes in part from the William N. Pennington Foundation.

Bill Pennington was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and gaming pioneer who built a legacy of community service in Nevada.

- [Announcer] And by Thelma B. and Thomas P. Hart Foundation, Kristine Perry, Margaret Burback, Mark and Susan Herron, in memory of Sue McDowell, Lloyd Rogers and Gaia Brown, Stanley and Neila Shumaker, and by individual members.

(gentle country music)