The Story of the Pony Express: A Concise History

Here is a concise history, in just over 100pages, of the Pony Express of Western United States fame. The author wrote this story when some of the original riders, like "Pony Bob Haslam" were still alive. Research was wide ranging and included some Senate documents. Two areas are of particular interest: The first is Bradley's perspective on the value of the Pony Express to the Union as the Civil War began. The second area of interest is Tom Crew's new material which gives the route and names of riders who did not take the standard steamboat route from Sacramento to San Francisco, but rather rode overland a number of times through Davis, Silveyville, Vacaville, Fairfield, Rockville and Benicia California, then by ferry to Martinez and on through Pacheco, Walnut Creek, Lafayette, along Fish Ranch Road to Oakland, then by ferry to San Francisco. This overland route is overlooked in most of the published material about the famed Pony Express. One generally reads that riders, "went aboard a steamer and a fast run was made the last 125 miles down the Sacramento river" to San Francisco.