Note B — Chapter XIV · AN ALARMING SITUATION

One of the Express Riders made the run from St. Joe to Denver, 625 miles, in two days and twenty-one hours. Within five miles of Guittard’s Station, Will Bolton’s horse was disabled. He abandoned the animal and with the mail pouches slung over his shoulder, trotted to the next station, remounted and completed his run with only a small loss of time. J. H. Keetley, now a prosperous merchant of Salt Lake City, was an Express Rider from the opening to the close of the service. He once rode 300 miles in twenty-four hours, stopping only to change horses. Robert Haslam, remembered through the West as “Pony Bob,” is a genial, prosperous citizen of Chicago, associated in the management of the Congress Hall organization. In his younger days he performed many astonishing feats as an Express Rider. He was twice wounded by Indians, made the speediest 190 miles on record, and for six months covered daily the run between Reno, Nevada, and Virginia City, a distance of twenty-three miles, well within an hour. He used fifteen horses on each run. How those old timers could ride and if necessary fight! I add the following extract from an interesting letter received by me from Mr. Haslam:

“Chicago, Dec. 28, 1908.

“Very few of the old Pony Express Riders ever carried a rifle of any description from start to finish. I once purchased a Spencer from a deserter from Fort Bridger, paying him $20. This was in 1861. The weapon was a breech-loader with seven shots. I always carried a Colt’s revolver with two cylinders, and often had to use both of them. I made sure that the pistol was fully loaded when I started. Caps were employed, and the revolver was loaded by means of a ramrod attached to it. After the Spencer came the Sharp, seven-shooter, repeating breech-loader with cartridges. My Spencer weighed about seven and a half pounds, but I never used it on the Express. When I was messenger from Salt Lake to Denver in the service of Wells Fargo & Co. I carried a short double-barreled shotgun with buckshot and later a Winchester 16-shooter. When in the government service in Porto Rico and the Philippines, all the weapon I carried was a Colt’s improved double action revolver.”