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CBAC, Music, and Reliving the Pony Express

Golden Eye Candy – Frank Hanou – New lights for the Billy Drew bridge – enlarge

What’s Happening in Golden Today?

6-6:55AM Cardio Lift Interval (Virtual)

7:30AM Citizens Budget Advisory Committee Meeting @ City Hall
CBAC will hold their first meeting for the year. From now until the new budget is approved in December, this group will study the City’s budget in detail and make recommendations as necessary.

8:00-8:55AM Tai Chi (Virtual)
8:30-9:30AM Power Training (Virtual)
9AM Golden Walks – Wednesday Morning Celebrating Life @ Golden Library
10-10:55AM All Levels Yoga (Virtual)
10:15-10:45AM Toddler Time @ Golden Library
10-10:55AM All Levels Yoga (Virtual)
11:15-11:45AM Family Time @ Golden Library
1PM Wild West Walking History Tour
1 and 4PM Wild West Short Tour
2PM Microsoft Excel: Basics @ Golden Library
3-5PM Hard Times Writing Workshop (Virtual)

5-8PM Aprés Wednesday @ Golden Mill
6-7:30PM Land Stewardship Series – Coyote Country @ Jeffco Open Space
6:30-7:45PM Band Concert @ Bell Middle School


Live Music

5-8PM Alibi Trio @ Golden Mill

6-9PM Chris Koltak @ Miners Saloon


Golden History Moment

Pony Express: June 1860 – October 1861

100 Years Ago
The March 15, 1923 Colorado Transcript announced that Golden would be a stop on a reenactment of the Pony Express.

The Pony Express was a short-lived but long-remembered piece of American history. It was established in June of 1860 and ended in October of 1861. During that brief run it provided much-needed mail service between the eastern United States and the western goldfields in California and Colorado.

Pony Express Route – Source: National Park Service Pony Express National Historic Trailclick to enlarge

The 1923 reenactment was a publicity stunt designed to promote the Victory Highway, which was one of the earliest coast-to-coast automobile highways. As such, it took some liberties with historical accuracy: for one thing, the planners changed the route. The original Pony Express went through Wyoming; the Victory Highway route went through Colorado. That worked well for Golden, as we were squarely on the Victory Highway route!

Route of the Victory Highway – courtesy of raremaps.com

Another liberty arose from the legend that Buffalo Bill Cody had been one of the Pony Express riders. While he did work for the same company, he was not one of the daring, breakneck solitary riders who carried the mail across the country.

Buffalo Bill, pictured in the Foss mural on 13th Street – enlarge

On the strength of this connection, when the ride happened the following September, Buffalo Bill’s foster son–Johnny Baker–was chosen to ride one of the stages. The Express went through the Denver area on Monday September 3rd.

Verner Z. Reed, Jr., who took the mail pouch at Aurora at 8:48 a. m., made the ride through Denver and to the Green Mountain ranch near Wide Acres, where he delivered the pouch to “Swede” Nettlefield, who carried it to the foot of Lookout Mountain where he was relieved by Johnny Baker, foster son of Col. William F. (Buffalo Bill) Cody. Baker halted his mustang at the grave of this most famous of the old original express riders…
The Jefferson County Republican
– September 6, 1923

After a well-attended ceremony at the gravesite, the next rider took charge of the mail pouch and left on the next stage. The final rider reached San Francisco on September 9th, beating the time record set by the original Pony Express riders.


Thanks to the Golden History Museum for providing the online cache of historic Transcripts, and to the Golden Transcript for documenting our history since 1866!


Highlights