Original subtitles

There is a lot of dispute about the Pony Express.

Folks always wanted to know what was real and what was not.

I can tell you with certainty the adventure was real.

The danger we faced was real.

The legends that were born, they were real enough.

I should know because I was there.

And those boys were my friends.

A lot of folks forget that the Pony Express was only around for 18 months.

Just a blink of an eye. But in that short time, we changed the course of our

history and gave this country a generation of heroes to call our own.

say it was a legendary time.

What town's that, Paul?

That there's our state capital, Sacramento.

It sure don't look like much.

I suppose it don't.

Give it time.

This country's growing mighty fast.

It's towns like that that are going to lead us forward.

Come on, let's get down there.

Beginning in 1848 and 1849 with the Gold Rush, the population explosion in the

West was massive.

Over half a million people lived there by the time of the Civil War.

So as all these hundreds of thousands of people pushed westward, it started to

push the limits of the nation's infrastructure.

There was no transcontinental railroad at the time, and there was also no

telegraph. So if you wanted to send a letter from New York to San Francisco,

basically had two options.

You could send the letter by steamship down the Atlantic coast, across Panama,

and then up the Pacific to San Francisco.

Or you could send it overland with the Butterfield mail route.

This was a route that made its way across the southern third of the

In both cases, it could take quite a long time, up to three to four weeks for

the letter to arrive.

Without reliable, fast communication, you can't run a business and you

can't run a country. Plain and simple.

But there is a third option.

So the third option is the central route through the middle of the country. This

route that is shorter, but it's more difficult and it's... dangerous, arid,

and that's the route that the Pony Express chose.

So the idea behind the Pony Express was to build a system of relay stations,

about 190 stations in total, spanning nearly 2 ,000 miles and running from

Missouri in the east to California in the west.

A rider would take a bag of mail and ride it as fast as he could from one

station to the next. At the next station, he'd either change horses for a

mount or hand off the bag to a new rider.

And it improved the time down to 10 to 12 days for a letter to make its way

across this system.

The clock was always ticking, and not a second could be wasted.

That was the only way it would work.

They're coming.

The station master served an essential logistical role. They would get the

ready 30 minutes before a rider was supposed to arrive.

They'd have food. They'd have water. They'd have feed for the horses.

So they were indispensable to this route.

Howdy, Sam. How'd it go?

How'd it go?

They haven't got me yet.

Well, some horse is a heartbeat away, isn't it? You got that right.

needed really fast transfers at those stations. Once the rider got there, they

only had two minutes to switch mounts.

All right.

That's it.

We'll catch you on the return, Sam.

Farewell, Bill.

So the station masters really kept it moving.

The chilla was a very small bag that can carry mail. It was something that a

rider could throw onto their saddle in seconds and then be on their way.

The important thing about the mochila was that it fit over the saddle so the

rider could fit on it. There was no chance of it coming off or being lost.

That was the responsibility of that Pony Express rider. You could lose a horse,

you could lose anything else, but you don't lose that saddlebag.

Different horses were required for different kinds of terrain. So

were used on the plains, pintos were used in the middle, and the mustangs

used in Nevada and then here in Nevada.

Each horse could carry no more than 165 pounds.

Speed was everything.

You wanted to keep things as light as possible.

So a maximum of about 20 pounds for the male itself, 20 pounds for supplies, and

that left only 125 pounds for the rider himself.

These recruitment posters, they look like wanted posters with criminals and

wanted and big bold letters.

And so young kids, teenagers, preteens, they saw these posters and they

connected that with adventure and excitement and this romanticized ideal

West. And many of them bought into it and signed up.

Charlie Miller and his father were on East Street in Sacramento when they came

across a horse without a rider and blood on the saddle.

They quickly realized that this is a Queen Express horse, so something

to that rider onward.

Whoa, easy, boy.

It's okay.

You're safe.

You're all right.

Okay.

The schedule was like a religion for these boys.

No matter what danger they face, they push forward, happier to die in the

than lose a single minute on the trail.

We have all been witness to agree this act today.

The loss of our rider will not go unmarked.

His memory will be held dear and his service will be remembered.

But I turn to you now with a more urgent request.

There's important work that needs to be completed.

Letters that must reach Carson City before nightfall.

Is there any among you who could carry on this important mission?

Is there no one?

I can do it. I can take the mail.

Can you ride, son?

Yeah. He's a great rider.

Are you sure?

Well, it's got to be done.

Then let's get you sorted out.

For young men thinking about riding for the Pony Express, there are a couple

reasons. One, the pay was good, about $125 a month. But for a lot of these

men, it was much more about the excitement and the adventure.

Raise your right hand and place your left hand on the Bible.

Now repeat after me.

I, Charlie Miller.

do hereby swear before a great and living God. I, Charlie Miller, do hereby

swear in front of a great and living God.

That I will, under no circumstances, use profane language, I will drink no

intoxicating liquors, and I will not quarrel with any other employee of the

firm. Every new employee had to take an oath, promising they wouldn't swear,

they wouldn't drink, and they wouldn't fight with other employees.

Now, these are young men.

So it's unclear how many of them necessarily stuck with that oath, but in

to get hired, they had to say the words.

I will conduct myself honestly, be faithful to my duties, so help me God.

Welcome to the Point Express, son.

Thank you, sir.

Let's get you geared up and ready for the trip.

The riders were given a limited amount of gear, again, about 20 pounds.

They were given a rifle, a Colt Navy revolver, a Bible, and a bugle.

Why don't you try that on for size?

You sure you can handle that? I think so.

Perhaps we can stick with the Colt.

After all, it'll be lighter for the horse.

Most riders started leaving their rifles behind.

They were...

heavy, they were cumbersome, they were difficult to carry around.

And again, Speed was the name of the game. So when these boys went out there,

all they had was that Colt pistol.

Listen to me, son.

Once you leave Sacramento, you ride fast and you ride hard.

And you don't stop for anyone or anything. You got that? I won't stop

Carson's safe. I promise.

That's my boy.

I'll see you soon, son.

Charlie Miller was the youngest rider in the history of the Pony Express.

He was wounded twice by arrows, but the boy survived.

Charlie was one of the lucky ones.

Others were not so fortunate.

The Pony Express was a great achievement to be sure.

But we must not forget the Indians of this land who didn't look kindly on the

incursion. This was their home. And suddenly, it was filled with uninvited

guests at their front door, clamoring to get in.

For some of them, the Pony Express was a threat.

And its employees?

A target.

One of the riders named Billy Tate, he came west with his family from Arkansas

in a wagon train. His family was killed in the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

And in 1860, he was hired to ride for the Pony Express.

Billy Tate ran away and headed west to start a new life on his own terms.

But unfortunately, violence followed Billy to his very last day.

The Paiute lived in Nevada and Utah for over a thousand years.

This was tough land, but they were able to find a way of living that worked for

them. Beginning in the 1830s, that's when overland transportation really

and you start seeing settlers come through there, geographers, surveyors,

like that.

But it wasn't until the 1850s that the slow trickle of settlers turned into a

flood. Thousands and thousands of people, mainly seeking gold and silver,

started to pour onto traditional Paiute land.

As all these people moved onto that land, they increasingly burdened the

resources of this fragile landscape.

Tensions were running high.

This wasn't just a competition for scarce resources, but from the Paiute

perspective, this was an invasion of their homeland.

This was about a 15 -year period of animosity that built up.

Sometimes there'd be certain incidents that would happen, the Paiutes who would

retaliate against the next wagon train coming through. You didn't know when and

where the Paiutes were going to hit, but you know they're going to hit.

The events that led to Billy Tate's adventure really began in 1860 with the

kidnapping of two Paiute women by white settlers.

That then led to the William Station Massacre, which killed five white

This was basically the backdrop now for Billy Tate.

The way the story goes is that Billy Tate is ambushed by

Paiute horsemen in central Nevada.

in the Ruby Valley.

Billy's on the run, so he retreats into the hill.

He dismounts his horse and then tries to find shelter.

We need to remember that there weren't any forts in northern Nevada at this

point in time.

So there was really no safe harbor for him.

And he apparently took the wrong route.

And he soon finds himself trapped.

Billy Tate had to contend with not only the environment, but also the fact that

the Paiute would have known their way around this area.

So instead of escaping, Billy's trapped.

He knows it, so he decides to make the last stand.

Unfortunately for Billy, he left his rifle behind, so he only had his colt,

which wouldn't do him any favors in a firefight for his life.

Young Billy's mail did arrive at the next station a few days later.

But unfortunately, Billy was not there to accompany it.

I don't like the look of this.

Keep your guard up.

Could be a trap.

Ponies are very intelligent animals. In Billy's case, his pony actually made it

all the way to the station.

Because that's where Spoo was.

Tate Pony.

So where's Tate?

I guess we better go find out.

All they could do was backtrack and look for Billy somewhere along the trail.

How long are we gonna look?

As long as it takes.

Did you see something?

I think I found him.

He killed them all.

Not quite.

Some got away.

Wounded, though.

Rest in peace, Billy.

When the station master comes across Billy's body, he finds it riddled with

arrows, but he also finds his revolver chamber empty and several dead Paiutes

nearby. He made every bullet count. He killed several, wounded the rest, but

unfortunately he too was shot and killed.

Young Billy was buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in the Ruby Valley.

Nobody knows where for sure, but I'll tell you something special.

Billy Tate was not scouted by the Paiutes that day, even though that was

practice. No, see, the boy fought bravely, and this was their way of

paying him respect.

But not everyone was shown that same respect.

Riding for the Pony Express was dangerous work.

Trust me when I say the most dangerous job fell to the station masters who were

sitting ducks in their outposts. At least the riders could run for their

when threatened.

But the station masters, on the other hand, they had to wait and hope for the

best.

Pony Express stations were literally in the middle of nowhere.

There were no cities, no towns.

Nearest help could be miles and miles away. That was their entire point, to be

an oasis in the landscape for these riders to come into.

But these were not luxury apartments.

These were effectively a shack and a stable.

So the station masters who lived there were living in extreme isolation.

You want some eggs?

Yeah, I'd be fine.

Make some for Dan, too.

He's late, isn't he?

He should be here.

Let me go get it.

There are three things that made these stations a target for attack.

First, they had food and water.

Second, they had horses.

And third, they were stationary.

They weren't going anywhere, so you knew exactly where they were.

Oh, no.

We are trouble!

1860 was a tough time to be on the western half of the Pony Express Trail.

It was the hotbed of violence, essentially.

Take your rifle!

No, no, this isn't happening.

Hey!

Keep your cool, okay?

The chief is angry.

His people are angry.

And they're here to take our lives.

Unless... Unless what?

They want our gunpowder.

Tell them no.

They're gonna kill us! I said no!

Now, why would he refuse that?

He doesn't want that gunpowder to be used against migrants, against riders,

against other station masters down the line.

Well,

what are they saying now? Hold on.

Come on, what are they saying?

They want food.

In that moment, there was a glimmer of hope for these men.

If they shared their food, then maybe there was a chance for them after all.

To be clear, we need to make sure that we don't vilify the Paiute.

Not only have they had this generation's worth of bad experiences and bad

encounters and massacres with white settlers, but on top of that, they had a

very bad harvest the previous winter.

They were starving. They were in very bad condition. And this was a very

vulnerable time for that people.

This is all we have.

It's for you.

It's for all.

What's he saying?

This is no good.

They need bread.

They want us to make bread.

Well, make them bread. I can't.

That was all the flour.

We gotta go!

Now! Now!

Mr. Ford!

Mr. Ford!

Any hope for them should have been gone.

But William Dennis was watching from a nearby ridge.

The Pony Express rider that was scheduled to arrive there that very

he had to get help.

He goes down to the nearest Army detachment and alerts them to the fact

there's possible trouble at Egan Station.

Lieutenant Stephen Weed launches a charge on Eakin Canyon Station.

They chase out the Paiutes after a firefight.

Three of their men are wounded. They kill several Paiutes and injure several

more. The cavalry literally rode to the rescue.

Many station employees lost their lives that year.

But the Paiutes weren't the only ones known to attack.

Whoa there, friend.

The Pony Express faced many threats from Indians, but it also faced threats from

thieves, bandits, and murderers alike.

In these violent days, a brave few rose to protect the weak. And the greatest

amongst them was my dear friend, James Butler Hickok. He wasn't known as

Wild Bill in those days.

No, at the age of 24, he was just a young hero in the making.

The Wild Bill Hickok's involvement in the Pony Express has taken a lot of

different forms over the years through the historical channel.

Some say he was a stock tender.

Some say he was sort of an auxiliary member of the mail service.

Buffalo Bill, William Frederick Cody, says that he was a rider, a courier.

Wild Bill's fame did not come until 1867.

I think that the Rock Creek episode in Hickok's career helps to establish his

fame. His reputation was unknown at that time.

According to legend, while Bill blew his bugle, didn't hear anything in return,

and this alerted him to the fact that something was up.

I don't like to see it.

Whoa there, friend.

According to legend, Wild Bill comes into the station, finds the dead stock

tender, and then hears screaming in an adjacent cabin.

The stock tender had just gotten married, and that was his young bride.

No! No! No!

What are you doing? Shut up!

Back away from her!

Second only to Wild Bill's reputation as a marksman is his reputation with hand

-to -hand combat.

Oh, I don't know who you are.

That's if you leave.

We're long past that, friend.

Sit down.

The incident at Rock Creek Station solidified Hickok's reputation as a

Whether by revolver, knife, or his bare hands, the man was ferocious.

He never backed down from a fight. Now, I'm talking about a fight with one guy,

two guys, three guys. It didn't matter.

He didn't start a fight, but he finished the fight.

You all right, ma 'am?

I think so.

Are you going after him?

No, I reckon I'll stay here with you.

He ain't coming back.

The man who escaped was the sole survivor of McCandless Gang.

According to legend, they were picked for the meanest, wickedest gun flingers

west of the Mississippi.

Thank you, stranger.

My name's Hickok.

Thank you, Mr. Hickok.

I'm sure you're all right.

Let's get you out of here. Come on. Come on.

This is Wild Bill's first gunfight.

From there, the legend grew.

He becomes a storied gunslinger in the American West.

He was not a typical gunfighter. Hickok dressed exceedingly well. He was a

gentleman. He could get along with everybody. A classic American citizen.

This wagon will take you and your husband to Nebraska City.

Wait, where are you going?

Do your calls, ma 'am.

I have to complete my ride.

Please, won't you come?

My condolences.

I must be going.

Ma 'am.

After the incident at Rock Creek, folks took to calling him Wild Bill.

And he gladly accepted the new moniker.

The Pony Express faced a heap of trouble in its time.

But it was worth all of it.

Just to deliver one letter.

New York has given Lincoln a majority of 50 ,000.

And with that, his election is conceded.

With the triumph of the Republicans in each of the free states, Abraham Lincoln

is the new president of the United States.

In March 1861, a very important message from Washington needed to make its way

to California as fast as possible.

The transcontinental telegraph line was being built, but it wasn't quite yet

complete. The West Coast had telegraph lines, the East Coast and the Midwest

telegraph lines, but she had that gap right in the middle. So a telegraph

message that was sent from Washington, D .C. could make it all the way to Fort

Kearney, Nebraska.

But then there was a 1 ,300 -mile gap between there and Nevada.

That 1 ,300 -mile gap was filled by the Pony Express.

They had fresh horses staged along the way, so they could get on that next

and go.

Cover that ground as fast as they could.

They had to have their best riders, fastest horses.

For the Pony Express, this had to be their finest hour.

Mighty tight turnover today.

Important message.

What's in it?

Later from the president.

Hope he makes it.

He will.

One of those riders was a man named Pony Bob Haslam.

He had been with the company since the beginning. He had been hired to help

build the station and the trail in the early days.

Pony Bob is well known and associated with Pony Express for Two main reasons.

The first reason was he did the longest ride, 380 miles, during the Paiute War.

It was the longest ride in Pony Express history.

The second reason is because he transported Lincoln's inaugural address

Joseph, Missouri, all the way to Sacramento.

The most important piece of mail that the Pony Express carried in its short

existence was Lincoln's inaugural address.

In the fall of 1860, the American people elected Abraham Lincoln to be their

next president.

By the time of his inauguration, seven states had seceded from the United

to form the Confederacy. His inauguration was a plea to hold the

So America was on the throes of civil war. It was of vital importance to keep

California and the rest of the West Coast in the Union as well.

California was so important because this was the new frontier. This was the

future of America.

Gold, silver, people, trade, the world beyond the Pacific.

California was the portal to all of that.

Both the Confederacy and the United States had their eyes on California to

able to finance this coming war.

And it wasn't a foregone conclusion that California was going to go towards the

United States. There was a significant Confederate sympathizing population.

So Lincoln was trying to do everything possible to keep California in the

Part of that was sending the inaugural address and reassuring Californians that

they were part of the nation.

Tony Bob to cover this country at speed meant that he was certainly throwing

himself in harm's way.

Tony Bob's route was dangerous. He was going right through Paiute territory.

And even though the war had recently ended, there was still the possibility

a war band might come out of nowhere and attack.

Pony Bob is on the run. The Paiute War Party is chasing him, but an arrow hits

his arm, and this forces his hand.

Handguns are not accurate at any kind of range.

Shooting the horses was a much more logical step than trying to shoot the

riders.

He could have stayed to finish the fight, but Pony Bob understood his duty

clearly. This letter really proved to Californians that they were part of the

nation. Being one week removed from...

The East Coast was significantly better than being one month, being six months,

being a year, which is what the experience had been formerly.

California now felt like a more closely knit part of the union, like a more

integrated part.

And in a nation that's dividing, literally fraying at the seams, cleaving

California, for whatever reason, because of this letter, became a little closer

to it.

Coney Bob's ride helped to save the union that day of this.

I am certain.

When the end came for the Pony Express, it was sudden.

It was swift.

But I guarantee you, no one was surprised.

The telegraph was the death blow to the Pony Express.

After the transcontinental telegraph line opened, the Pony Express closed.

And yet, the Pony Express is...

both a beginning and an end. It is the beginning of the Old West, the open

-range cattle ranches, the mass movement of Americans in a systematic, rapid

fashion, wagon trains going into the unknown.

Long after the Pony Express was delivering mail, it was delivering

It existed only as a letter service, and yet a more glamorous contribution to

our Western heritage would be hard to find.

We can put all the trappings of romance on it we want.

And this is really the value as we look at this from a historical perspective.

That's what the Pony Express did.

It gave us a means for understanding the development of the West.

I cannot name a single writer that was hired the first day and was there at the

last day. I don't know if there is one.

Because the writers came and went. But the stories that they shared and what

they brought back to their communities.

This got out into the American public. It's a story of heroes.

And it endures to this day.

The Pony Express embodies, I think, all of these different aspects of Western

America and its history. And in particular, the aspects that we want to

remember. The romance, the adventure, the environment, the danger. It becomes

central to how the American people think about and remember and sometimes

misremember the Western United States.

So whether or not all of these things actually happened, whether or not they

were accurate, I think even just looking at the Pony Express, it oftentimes

reflects some of the values and the stories that we want to believe about

own past.

Just two days after the telegraph line was finished, the Pony Express ceased

to exist.

But in our short time, we delivered 35 ,000 letters.

and only lost the one mochila.

But the best thing that we ever did was to give this young country some

heroes of its own.

Well performed, Mr. Cody.

Thank you for your audience, Mr. Edison.

Buffalo Bill and Thomas Edison did meet on at least two occasions, one time at

the Paris Exposition in 1889 and another time at the Chicago World's Fair in

1893. These two men, Thomas Edison and Buffalo Bill, really represent a

transition from the 19th century to the 20th century.

And in a lot of ways, this was a passing of the baton from one storyteller to

the next.

Bronco Charlie, Wild Bill.

Tony Bob.

These are all very colorful characters with incredible tales.

But I must ask, how much of this is true?

Well, Mr. Edison, you can appreciate in this world there are truths, there are

half -truths, and there are legends.

I'm a busy man.

I only have time for the legends.

Buffalo Bill.

He is probably the best storyteller for the American West that's ever existed.

And what he was involved in, what he actually did, there's debates about

But what he did manage to do is keep a version of the American West alive to

present day.

Buffalo Bill introduced Easterners and people throughout the world to the West

in a brand new way.

The Wild West show brings together indigenous warriors, gunfighters, Annie

Oakley, Pony Express riders, all these old legends of the West.

And it is really the beginning of a cinematic Western.

Well, I like it.

Mr. Cody, how would you like to make a motion picture with me?

What do you have in mind?

I was thinking, why don't we make a Western?

What are their partners?

To a large degree, Buffalo Bill was passing on the torch to Thomas Edison.

Here you have this roadshow master in Thomas Edison whose inventions will lead

to ways that we consume information and stories today about the American West.

Film and cinema.

cements the status of the Pony Express in so many Americans' imaginations.

Putting it on the big screen and making all these myths and legends and stories

a part of American culture.

We love entertainment, and Hollywood was a big part of exciting the American

public to the American West.

These movies really inspired our imagination, and the Pony Express.

It was a big part of that. I'll be seeing you.

That was where the Western began, the beginning of all Western films that we

today.

Romanticized for sure, but boy, people really latched onto it.

The last ride of Pony Express.