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Churchill County
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"Orphans Preferred" and "Pony Bob"
"Pony Express! St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California... in 10 days or less"
The route that was to become the great Pony Express, christened in legend, and re-enacted even today.
"Wanted: young, skilly, wiry fellows not over eighteen. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. Wages, $25 per week."
Letters delivered in 10 days was a duration many said was impossible. The goal of three men, William H. Russell, Alexander Majors and William Waddell, organized and put together the Pony Express in just two months in the winter of 1860; the operation was an enormous undertaking, with 120 riders, 184 stations, 400 horses and several hundred head of personnel. The founders' idea of having a shorter route, using mounted riders rather than stagecoaches, hoped to establish a mail service that was faster and more reliable for the mail and ultimately, win an exclusive government mail contract-- something that was not present at the time. The Pony Express would demonstrate that a unified transcontinental system could be built and would operate continuously year round.
However, the actual operation of the Pony Express was one of trial and error, tragedy and utter danger. History fails to record the exact number of Pony Express stations, but a general concensus puts the total around 184 stations placed at intervals of about 10 miles along the approximately 2,000 miles (3,200 km) route! 10 miles was roughly the maximum distance a horse could travel at full gallop, so the rider changed to a fresh horse at each station; here, the rider would take the mail pouch, called a mochila (the Spanish word for pouch or backpack) and throw it over the saddle, held in place only by the weight of the rider; the employers at the station stressed the importance of the pouch, so important that if it came to be, the horse and rider should perish before the mochila did. The pouch held twenty pounds of material, along with bundles of mail stuffed into pouch pockets, then padlocked for safety; included in that twenty pounds were a water sack, a Bible, a horn for alerting the relay station master to prepare the next horse, a revolver and some jerky. In general, the operation allowed for a total of 165 pounds on the horse's back, the reason why all of Pony Express riders had to "wiry, skinny fellows", not to exceed 125 pounds; although the rider and horse was changed about every 75–100 miles, time and weather were not a setbacks. Riders rode day and night, rain or shine. In emergencies, a given rider rode two stages back to back, equalling over twenty hours on a galloping horse. "Pony Bob" (Robert) Haslam topped the record books for making the longest ride of any Pony Express rider; his monumental ride of 120 miles in 8 hours and 20 minutes while wounded, became the fastest trip ever made by the Pony Express. The message was important enough to warrant life and limb: Lincoln's Inaugural Address. His ride was the result of Indian problems in 1860. Having received the east bound mail from San Francisco at Friday's Station (present day Stateline-Tahoe), his relief rider at Buckland's Station (Fort Churchill) was so badly frightened over the Indian threat that he refused to take the mail. Haslam agreed to take the mail all the way to Smith's Creek for a total distance of 190 miles without a rest. After a rest of nine hours, he retraced his route with the westbound mail. When he arrived at Cold Springs, he found that Indians had raided the station, killing the station keeper and running off all of the stock. Ultimately, he reached Buckland's Station, a 380-mile round trip on horseback and the longest on record.
History in Waiting
With the replacement of the telegraph in 1861, the Pony Express became a dream felled short. The need for riders to risk Indian attack, weather out storms or suffer from exhaustion, became unnecessary. Fortunately, the Pony Express like all things in the west, left behind a lasting legacy. Today, the fabled Pony Express invokes emotion, especially when visiting Churchill County's austere vistas and open landscapes; a mail system reliant on the ability and endurance of young men riding out into an unknown terrain is nothing short of haunting, romantic and fascinating. Today, US 50 roughly parallels the Pony Express Trail, and visitors who drive "America's Loneliest Road" can too appreciate the long, but not forgotten route. Hints of its past linger in the air of Churchill County, along with remnants of the very same telegraph line, the Overland Mail Route that ended the riders' careers. After the railroads came fortune seekers, often war deserters with "color" on their minds. Churchill County's abundance of mining camps is nothing to scoff at; many dozens of booming camps seemingly sprang up overnight, often located in dry gullies or at the base of mountain canyons. Towns like La Plata, the first ever seat of Churchill County, sit lonely and forgotten, accessible only by sturdy 4WD rigs; other obscure camps like Bolivia, Clan Alpine, Buffalo, and Dixie lie at the hands of mercy and time. The former seat of Stillwater is now an Indian Reservation, still a little bitter after the state snatched the seat away to nearby Fallon. The turn of the century brought hope for Churchill County's arid Lahontan Basin land when the Newlands Water Project of 1902 created a system of canals and dams, now responsible for diverting water from the Truckee River to the Lahontan Valley. The Project created what is known today as "Nevada's Salad Bowl", Nevada's agriculture capitol and home to thousands of acres of farmland. The state's largest source of agriculture (one of the driest portions of Nevada!) encircles Fallon, one of the only towns in Nevada founded strictly on farming. Indeed, Churchill County shares a strong following with history seekers of all ages, yet ironically, thousands of people everyday are unaware of the county's immense historical roots. Viewing Churchill's desolance from an air-conditioned vehicle is a hard parallelism to the young men who were fastened to a horse and mailbag; the riders in Churchill's landscape, remote and rugged, would have loved a piece of blacktop like US 50-- a solid line of direction cutting through a sea of sagebrush. Indeed, Churchill resembles a neglected hard back book, a place easily judged on the exterior, with a juicy story waiting on the interior. If a person gave Churchill County a chance, he could spend his entire life just wandering its open hills and finding its hidden oases, forgotten pieces of ground still unclaimed by today's cartographers. After all, time is patient.
The Markers
In terms of markers, Churchill unfortunately doesn't offer much in terms of variety. Most of the markers in Churchill County are accessed via US 50, "America's Loneliest Road." Needless to say, Fallon will most likely be your base of operations. Fallon is a comfortable base to work from, a fast-growing bedroom community to Sparks complete with numerous motels, casinos and restaurants, grocery stores, auto repair shops, hospitals and sporting goods stores. Seems like the Newlands Project brought not only greenery, but concrete as well to the Lahontan Valley! Whether you favor or disfavor the Water Project (brought on part by stiff controversy concerning Pyramid Lake to the north), the Project has helped shaped Fallon into a full-fledged "oasis" in the middle of an arid desert. Fallon's wonderful "Hearts O Gold" cantaloupes, local farmers' markets, spectacular sunsets, and friendly atmosphere are a typified versions of downhome Americana; this is significant, considering Fallon is the only town of significance within the county's five thousand square miles! From the Forty Mile Desert (#26) to the county courthouse (#161), to New Pass Station (#135) and Wagon Jack Shelter (#110), prepare for lots of fun in this wild county. That is... if you choose to look for it. After all, time is patient.
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