Good morning, All. Another lovely, sunny day here. I have a turkey to cook, and a footstool to recover! And will be lazy in between.

Other than the fact that it existed, I know nothing about the Pony Express, so I will check for clues in the between my tasks!!

Nancy.

Uhoh. I don't know the exact year, but I think I can guess what might have been the event that ended it. Of course, if the date on your map is any hint, I am dashing off in totally the wrong direction.

My grandfather went west in a stage coach as a young man. It always amazed me how recently in history that time was. It is one of those surprising things to me how the wild west was not all that distant to my life.

Cynthia

Well, from Cyn's comments, I will guess at the event that brought about the demise. Now, my Gr-Grandfather came from England on a ship bringing his wife and my then 18-year-old grandmother, into Montreal, then took a train into what is the middle of Canada. How old was you Grandfather when he took the stage coach?

Nancy.

The event I was thinking of entailed the completion of something used for communication (perhaps too wired on caffeine to think clearly?), but Nancy and Chuck are leading me to reconsider. Since the Pony Express only ran from St. Joseph Missouri to Sacramento, according to Chuck who knows everything it often seems, I was probably on the wrong track.

Nancy, my grandfather was born in the early 1870s, so he could have gone out in the late 1880s, I guess. I will have to check on some dates, but I will wait until after trivia so as not to inadvertently come across the answer. I will try to find the family tree with his DOB, though. Wonder where I stuck that.

Cynthia

Hello all,
Technology is driving me to drink!
Back in the old days when men were men and women were women, strangers risked their lives to deliver mail. I keep telling my kids that when I was young we had no cell phones, and only Doctors had beepers. Sheesh. and don't get me started on those waste of life video games. blah blah blah, up hills both ways in the snow!
My guess is 1891 Just a guess of course. No knowledge behind it. My kids forced me to get a new cell phone but they didn't teach me how to answer the darn thing. lol I can text.
:) Laura

This post was edited by auntyara on Sun, Aug 11, 13 at 14:25

I used to know this but as with many things it has faded from my memory. I long ago saw a movie about setting up the communication system to which Cynthia is referring. Trees figured prominently in the set up.

"Orphans preferred"' what a want ad!

That leapt at me too Bobbie - imagine!! No one to mourn them when they didn't make it, I guess.

Cyn, my GG was born in 1864. He brought his family over in the fall of 1912 - 100 years last Fall. Hard to imagine life back then, and how the world has changed in the last 100 years!!

Nancy.

I'm just back from fishing and have had fun reading all of your thoughts. It might help you to know that my favorite kind of trivia question has a surprising answer, and this is one of those.

DW is not home yet from an outing, so I need to go and get dinner started- sweet potatoes, green beans from the garden, and salmon. I was hoping it was going to be walleye, but the one I caught today was two inches under legal size. (No hints here)

I'll check back later.

TM

And I will add this: The answer is surprising and could have been even more surprising, but not much more.

TM

My Summer vacation is over :( lol
Here's our latest project.
Fire wood was delivered today
{{gwi:609512}}

When I was young, Leif Garret was the "tiger beat" heart throb. He was in a movie, or Tv show about the Pony express.
That's the only thing I remember. I do for some reason think it was only around for a very few yrs Less than 10? More like 3yrs. Well in the movie he was still young.
:) Laura.

{{!gwi}}

This post was edited by auntyara on Sun, Aug 11, 13 at 20:14

Laura, you're getting very warm.

Speaking of getting warm, I've cut up more than one pile of logs like that and it makes my back hurt just thinking about it.

TM

Amen to that!
:) Laura

Oh Geez Laura - painful memories for me, too. We used to go my SO's parents farm (8 generations) and cut the trees down and do all of that work, hauling them out of the bush on a skid. What's that old saw about getting heat out of wood 3 times!! lol.

Nancy - who is just playing, cause she has no clue!!

Wow, that is some wood pile, Laura. I was going to tease you about building a bigger fireplace!

So, a surprising answer. Guess it isn't the train then. Did they run out of orphans? ;)

Cynthia

Seems that it was very short, 1-2 years.

I have never seen anyone get wood for their fireplace that way. Here when it is delivered it is all nicely cut. Maybe still needs splitting but nothing like those huge logs.

On the farm we heated with coal, corn cobs and oil. Never had to cut wood. Most trees in NW South Dakota are part of a windbreak for the farm or the fields. Few needed to be cut down. Guess that has changed after Dutch elm disease and the rising water table which has drowned out some tree claims.

Ha, it would take me 1-2 years to cut all that wood. Good luck to you, Laura.

{{gwi:609543}}

OK, everyone kind of ended up in different spots on this one, so we're going to go with for Bobbie,

for Laura

for Cynthia

and for Nancy.

The answer is the Pony Express ended the very next year in 1861. That is surprising, yes? The only thing more surprising, to me, at least, would have been if it had ended in the same year it began. That's the way I was thinking, anyway.

The Pony Express people were hoping for a government contract to carry the mail, but that never happened, so the company closed up, having never made a dime in profit. This is in spite of the fact that the original rate for a 1/2 ounce piece of mail was $5! (That was going to be my followup question.) The completion of the telegraph certainly put more than one nail in the company's coffin.

Thank you all for playing trivia with me, and I wish you all the best of weeks, or at least a better than average one.

TM

That is surprising. I have always pictured the Pony Express as an on-going operation over many years! Very interesting, TM. Those post-Civil War times, events, dates get all fuzzy in my mind. Sometimes, it seems like a very modern period and other times, much less so. My grandmother was born in1887 and she died in 1977. She saw the invention of the car, telephone, etc. and lived to see men walk on the moon. She never lost her sense of wonder about all the changes that took place in her lifetime. Just amazing.

Thanks for the fun, TM. I feel a little sorry that those fellows didn't get their government contract. Guess they didn't know the right people. ;)

Cynthia

I remember watching documentaries about the pony express and about the start of the telegraph system. The two things that stood out for me were that the pony express was a short lived failure and stringing telegraph wires in trees instead of dedicated poles.

Over the years the romantic pictures and legend of the pony express gave the public a false impression of the success of the system.

Thanks for the fun, TM.

This weekend proves that those nuggets of information are still in my brain and accessible, even if it takes all day and some clues to nudge them forward.

That is amazing - the first instance, perhaps of technology taking over!! I can't believe it was only a year!! It does seem to loom large in the mythology of the Old American West! I guess that it was also more romantic than some wire strung into trees.

Thanks for the fun TM - you always have great questions.
;-))

Nancy.

One year. That is shocking.
I bet they found out they lost the contract via telegram. lol
Perhaps it remained a popular story through time, because of all the young men who fantasied about joining up, but never got a chance.
Good trivia question.
Thanks for the stars and the fun!
:) Laura

In a normal yr that wood pile would be split and stacked in about 3 weeks. This year we can't split and stack until the contractors finishes their work. They're on vacation.