The Pony Express

Hooray for the Pony Express,
They say linked the East and the West!
It ran for a year and a half,
‘Til they put up the telegraph.

Pony riders had to be thin –
One twenty-five in their bare skin.
Twenty pounds of mail in a sack,
Twenty for water, gun, and snack.

Ten hours to ride, through night and day,
To the next station on the way.
If the next rider was not there,
Back up astride to do a pair.

Deliver in ten days they claim,
Express was the key to their name.
Drop your letter in St. Joe (MO)
And they’ll read in Sacramento.

Happy 162nd Anniversary of the first Pony Express departures, April 3, 1860