[Lodi News] Pony Express Re-Ride arrives in Old Sac after 10 days and close to 2,000 miles

In their uni­form of yel­low bandanna, red shirt and brown vest, Pony Express riders turned Old Sac­ra­mento briefly into the Old West as they rode into town Thursday for the con­clu­sion of a cel­eb­rated mail deliv­ery.

The Pony Express National Re-Ride ended its nearly 2,000 mile trek from St. Joseph, Mis­souri to the Pony Express statue on 2nd and J streets. The 10-day jour­ney drew hun­dreds of par­ti­cipants as the relay of horse­back riders switched off every 10 miles just as the ori­ginal Pony Express riders did.

The 10 days are a recre­ation of the tra­di­tional route of the Pony Express private mail ser­vice that oper­ated for 18 months dur­ing 1860 and 1861. The Pony Express is remembered for its speed of its ser­vice, its 24-hour relay of riders, and as the fast­est route of com­mu­nic­a­tion between the East and West until the arrival of the inter­con­tin­ental tele­graph.