103 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.
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!
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.
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.
