Today was the day the Navajo Sheriff's Hashnife Pony Express (a group of 30 riders who trade off) came through delivering mail by horse (or pony, as it were) like they have every January for 56 years. The Pony Express has the longest contract with the Post Office, and the event is the oldest officially sanctioned Pony Express in the world. The original Pony Express was created on April 3, 1860 to carry mail from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, a distance of 1,960 miles (utilizing 184 layover stations). It lasted a whole year (thanks to the telegraph). The practice was revived regionally in 1958, with no plans of ending any time soon. (Thanks to the Fountain Hills & Fort McDowell Visitors Bureau for the photos.)
The riders cover 200 miles from Holbrook to Scottsdale and deliver around 20,000 pieces of first-class mail annually.
The cool part is that if you send them a letter for this event, it will bear the valued “Via Pony Express” cachet which is hand-stamped by the riders before the start of the ride. Here's a short video if you want to hear it from the riders' point of view.
If you missed them, they're arriving in Scottsdale at noon Friday (1/31). Hashknife is considered the official kickoff to the annual Parada del Sol celebration (Feb 8th). The West is still alive and well.
