The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 8, 1901, Page 8

these days of full-fledged postmen =xpress wagons it is not fair to f ard workers of '43, who ed for them. There was the « ms Company, there was express and the stage mail, and Gregory's express. back mail service from St. Joseph, Mo., the most western point then reached by the Eastern railroads. St. Joseph could be reached in an almost direct line from between the which at an average rate of eight miles per hour could Sacramento, the distance two being about 1900 miles, on one occasion 380 miles, completing the trip in a little Another rider, less than schedile time. William F. Cody, after- “Buffalo Bill,” made one continuous trip of 354 miles, stopping only for meals and fresh horses. There wcre to be two malls a week each way, and ward famous as were written on lightweight paper, fre- quently tissue. After all preliminary arrangements had been completed the pony express left Sac- ramento and St. Joseph at the same hour April 3, 186 Mail from St. on Joseph as It traveled San Francisco horse and rider and mafl pouch were placed on the boat and shipped for San Francisco, where they mounted the wharf at 1 o'clock on the morning of April 14. Here they a crowd with They were escorted at were met by band and torches. pony express of yesterday were 500 horses, 190 stations, with 200 station-keepers and eighty riders. President Buchanan’s last annual mes- sage was carried from the Missouri River to Sacramento in eight days. Lincoln’s first message was carried over son of Pioneer Joseph W. Gregory be covered in ten days the number of letters was necessarily lim- westward paséd from rideg fo rider by the the head of a procession to the postoffice the same route in seven days and seven- the photo hic business before Senftor Gwin induced a company to un- ited to not more than 200 for each rider. southern pass and Salt Lake, reaching amid music and cheers. teen hours, which is distinguished as be- were any photographs—when da- dertake the matter. Arrangements were Ordinarily the number ready for the post cramento April I News of its ap- The time was now shortened by the ing the quickest transportation of the and ambrotypes still ob- made for stations along the line. At each fell far below the limit. The expensive proach was enthusiastically received. The pony express from twenty-one days to kind on record. s to this day a station a fresh horse was to be ready to method of transportation necessitated a Senate and House adjourned to be ready ten, and this service was kept up until Plenty of adventures have been related his father's express start on with the mail pouch. A rider, high rate of postage. the charge being $5 to welcome its arrival in Sacramento. superseded by (ranscontinental lines. by the riders. Troubles with Indians the corner of Merchant commonly known as “Pony Bob.” rode per ounce. To diminish weight letters Just before the regular steamer sailed for ~ Among the reguirements to equip the were frequent in the neighborhood of mery streets. g e S £125 e tle old express wagon came | nd by way of Panama in "49,” he says “That's what my father used | Express with, and I | got started it was nip see who'd be first to reach | < with the mail and news udly race the Adam | you when thes tuck interior citl the for the papers i He story of a time when some important Presidential news was expect- be carried from San Fran-| The Adams Com- available boat for of mail and express s a ed. It was to cisco to Sacramento. cured the only e tra portation matter up the river. | Gregory wasn't going to be beaten that | He secured a small rowboat, got it er the pier where he could converse nd bribed one of them rail and express matter to| hole. Having gained the | he made off for the capital | r the very nose of the guards and the - boatmen , pass the s Company’s agent. was a hare and tortoise race. The Adams Company, secure of their cinch, | took their time in going up the river. Meanwhile Gregory was hurrying for Gear life, and the outcome was that the | news was published in Sacramento nexl{ morning while the Adams people were | still progressing leisurely up the river. Both companies took desperate chances time and again in their haste to dell\'erl atspatches. riding and driving, but on missions of | Kkind little heed was paid to them.l There were laws against fast | on one occasi n an officer standing in the | middle of the street attempted to stop one | of G egory’s meesengers, but the horse | | 1 to the occasion. A s halt and the officer lay sprawled | der were equ secor in the dust, while horse and rider leaped | over him and sped on their way. | Poor Gregory failed through the defal- of trusted agents in New York | He was too. in both big fires the early fifties, but cation burned out. he kept on with the express business in Eeptember, 155, an fnnovation came ental m 1t San Francis- of Arizona) way of a transconti » ii. © connect by Arkansas. St. Louis way Two slages eacn | r t fresh fortune seekers and | the ever welcome mail. Californians be- near to the East with | month. instead of two, in the days when they had been obliged | 1o depend upon the steamers. | feel to very eight mails a | Most fa: of all the old carrier sy the pony express, founded two | ter—that is, in 1850, “Buffalo Bill | 1d mo end of Indian adventures served | to make Listory of the pony express. It was planned to be similar in every | ay 10 the New England bi-weekly mai of & half-century hefore. tems wa years la It w ES, T am an old-timer in the United States Rallway Mall Service, and many a queer time we had on the line, too. When I first went on? Well, let My first run was In '74. Starting from Stockton, California, and extending within four miles of Bakersfield, that be- ing the extent of the railway; from there the mail was carried by stage to Los An- geles, me see. By the way, let me say, regarding the mode of travel, that is, time, equipment of cars, etc., things were in a very ‘crude state. The cars had flat roofs and the only method of ventilation was a very small opening or skylight, and the abomi- nable ofl lamps smoked you out by morn- ing. We also traveled with mixed tralns, part passenger, part freight, with the mail car at the rear and dust—whoo! taste it yet. 1 can The fastest time we made was from eighteen to twenty miles hour, the freight causing many annoying stops. Talk about safety! A mail car was very poorly protected—nothing in comparison to its protection to-day—and the life of the mail clerk was a% the mercy of ary one, boxed in his car alone as he always was. Once. when we were on a run south— 1 cannot forget the night—I was sitting there sorting out the mail ,for the next stopping place. T happened to glance up at the little skylight and there were three pairs of eyes peering down on me. It had the most startling - effect imaginable— alone in the car, no weapon in reach from where 1 sat, 1 fully expected to be rid- dled with bullets; whether they were tramps or professional hold-ups I could not tell. T decided to run the risk of sig- naling to the engineer to stop, which was done. They proved to be tramps and were speedily dropped. Within a few months the line was ex- tended to Caliente, which became a boom- ing town in a very short time, as the men working In the Tehachapi Pass soon turned it into a gambling place. The next extension of the road was to Los Angeles, the first train entering that city from the north in July, 1876. Tralns had been coming into the city previous to that time, however, from Colton, sixty miles south. Of course, by this time the mixed train had been abolished; now a through passerger. it was There was one place where we rallroad men always fared well and at no expense to ourselves. This was at the old land- mark at Merced, the .u Capitan, the place for getting off and connecting with the stages ‘for Yosemite. It was a large, handsome hotel and they always set free Junches for the'railroad men. This was done to attract the attention of the pas- sengers in order that they would patron- ize the place. It wasn’'t long before my route extended to Deming, N. M., 1206 miles from San Francisco, and we made three round trips a month, taking seven days for a trip. Hot! My! but the hottest place we ever struck was at Yuma, Ariz., on the Colo- rado River. Before reaching Yuma we passed through the Colorado desert, 20 feet below the level of the sea. Before entering the desert a huge water car had to be attached to the engine. - At times even the iron on the inside of my mail car would be blazing hot from the dread- ful heat. The houses at Yumarwere of adobe and the people slept in the dooryards or on the flat roofs. At one time my run ex- tended only to Yuma, and while walting for the return trip it was interesting to watch the Indians. Being in the habit of cooking my own meals in the mail car and having run out of milk, I hailed an Indlan boy who was passing with a huge Jar on his shoulder. I held up several very tempting bunches of grapes. He un- derstood, and hastily looking up and down to make sure that none of his customers ‘were about, he gave me a very generous can of milk. Of course, some of his cus- tomers were forgotten that morning. The road was next extended to El Paso, and it ‘was here that T had an_experience that taught me not to trust every one 1 met. El Paso stands on the American side of the Rio Grande, and just across the bridge on the Mexican side is Paso del Norte. We had several hours to wait. While stopping here I picked up a young fellow and we crossed the bridge. After we had been looking about some time a man came up end asked us if we dldn’t want to see a cock fight. Of course we were in for sights and went with him. He looked like a tourist and said he had Just come from the City of Mexico. We followed him into a long adobe building, where he first led the way to a bar. He called for drinks and cigars, making him- self very agreeable meanwhile. The bar- tender was an awful looking Mexican, one who would cut your throat for 10 cents. If we nadn't been so green wa would surély have seen that something was up. But no, we didn't suspect a thing until they commenced to throw dice, and after asking us to take part, one desperate looking fellow began- to edge our way. Then it suddenly dawned upon me what they were up to. By this time the place had become quite full, so, buy- ing some cigars, saying we had heard them highly spoken of, we watched our chance and made a break for the door. Our only fear was that the door would be closed and there we would be with the most desperate looking men one could fall in with. I tell you we didn't feel safe till we crossed that bridge and were on the American side. The Custom-house officer said if he had known where we were going he would have warned us against the Mexican “bunko steerers.” It was but a few years after that the Chief of Police of San Francisco and a fellow officer while down there were beaten and robbed in the very place where we had been that day. You see, I had a rather lonely time of it on the trips, for T had my mail car all to myself and had to stay with it. There were places where the scenery was so magnificent that if you were a man with the least bit of romance about you you would sit there in your car smok- ing your pipe and looking at the long ridge of mountains, imagining some of the most beautiful air castles that your mind was capable of concelving. Then there were times when the long, dusty, hot ride was anything but agreeable and rest at night dreadfully broken. The en- gineer used to make that engine give such a piercing shriek to make me wake up at the stations where I had to throw off the mail that I would jump out of my bunk with a bound. In my mail car 1 had my kitchen, sleeping and working apartments all. nicely arranged. and it was a case of live there day in and day . | i | | i | out. Tt wasn't as it is now, where there | are several men ir a car and you can | change off occasionally and see something of the places you go to. Talk about wasted mail! ness! Great good- You can’t begin to imagine the | loads upon loads of stuff that reached its destination, Christmas time. never | especially at Things poorly wrapped | up, not properly addressed or lack of: postage. At Christmas the boxes of | stuff that people sent, from Maine to California, would half the time be thrown away. There would be a violin with its neck broken; a box with a bonnet tumbling | out; then boxes of candy all falling to| pleces. Once I picked up a box of home | made butterscotch. It was all untied, and | after taking a taste I laid it aside, think- ing I might get time to wrap it more se- curely and send it on its way. But in the hurry and bustle the corner of the bos grew larger and the contents grew smaller. It was too much temptation for hard working men to resist, and besides it tasted so good. Accidents and hold-ups? think [ was exceptionally fortunate re- | garding them. 1 never was on a train that met with an accident. One or two | switchés had been left open, but no| | i | Well, no. 1| wreckage or disturbance to speak of. As to hold-ups, my mail car was always on the train which passed just before or just after the one held up, until on my | wedding tour; going and returning the | bandits waylald us, but with no serious | results. An! those were good old times. I almest wish 1 were back again on the line instead of in this office, only now the mail clerks have such strictly ad- vanced methods to work under that it isn't such a snap as it used to be. . JACK HARPER. | sleep became impossible. Soda Lake, on the Mojave Desert. Hers was a station guarded by Higgins and Sutton. This most traveled wagon road to Ivanpaugh, where very rich silver mines were being worked. Ivanpaugh was also an Indian center and station was on the headquarters. The station at Soda Lake netted a large sum each month to those in charge, and Higgins and Sutton coined money. their expressed It was determination never to leave the station in spite of some Indian fights, but at last came an adventure that frightened them into abandoning it. An old squaw came to the station, and by pointing to her mouth and doubling up showed every sign of agony from hunger, and in this manner requested to be fed. After recetving a supply of food she left silently in Indian fashion. Nothing was seen of her for a few days. The circum- stance occasioned no suspicion until the end of three days, when the same squaw returned, wounded and bleeding. They again befriended the woman, took her in and gave her food and such med!- cal aid and care as their rude mode of life allowed. She soon appeared better and began to move about their little g in an aimless manner. Suddenly an im stinctive suspicion awoke in the two. Had | she Leen sent as a spy by the Indians to locate their ammunition, money and food and to estimate their power of re- sistance to attack from rancheria near Ivanpaugh? an the Indian This suspicion, at first vague, grew from fear to almost maniacal frenzy, and after many whispered consultations, with their guns by their side, they determined to kill the woman and close her mouth against them ferever. Accordingly the plans were laid and executed, but new questions arose to complicate matters. What was to be done with the remains? If they were buried outside the Indlans might find and dig them up, or they might even now be watching the cabin from behind some rock or cactus. In either case if the body were carried out of doors they made to suffer. As a final resort one of them suggested that the interment take place underneath the earth of the kitchen floor, and this 4 plan was finally chosen. The grave being dug. the poor old Indian’s body was relted in, covered up and all possible signs ob- literated; but their troubles were not at an end. The body had ‘scarcely been cov- ered when the fear crept upon them that they had already been watched. The im- would be found out and | agination of the two men once more pic- | tured their own scalps dangling at the | belt of a Piute, while thes T horses were murderer. They they saw the footprints of ridden were by an sure Indian |many Indian moccasins at the rear of their houses; Indian faces rose befors them; the least noise startled them. and At last content- ed occupation of the station was out of the question. So early one morning they saddled thelr horses, turned their backs ; on Soda Lake and set their faces-toward Camp Cady, where a company of soldiers was stationed. Those unfortunates who trieq later to keep Soda Lake station have told strange stories connected with the place—stories of unearthly noises and groans about the house, especially in the kitchen, and one of these men, to-day living in the souths ern part of the State, actually swe! y that the old kitchen was haunted by 3 ghost of the murdered squaw. 4