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Show • • • (PO}TY EXPRESS Al'ID STAGE COACH CONTINUED) - 2 - surly' boastful shot of fellow. He made a long talk while we were eating our dinner which we didn't relish very much for to tell the truth we all felt a little shaky, though myself and the other Dutchman didn't have 'em as bad as the Scotchman. "Ca ptain Jackson was particularly anxious to make us oelieve he was a big man and kept r e ferring to it in his harrangue, by saying , 'This is my water, my wood and my gras s .' The fact wa s the water wasn't fit to drink, the wood was only sa ge brush and the gr a ss was so short it could only be pulled up by tweezers. When he got all through I aske d , 'What you say, Ca ptain Jackson?' ~ This made him very mad-. and he simply said 'N.u thie, n and sta lked away. Well, · I made the trip in safety a 1d landed my passengers, i n California. I drove the mail over that route until June, 1858 • . On July 4th of that year Bolivar Roberts start ed from Salt Lake with the first mail to California over the Grouse Creek Route. I followed on July 24, with men and animals and stocked the stations. I remained out on the line all summer and in November received orders to remove all the stations and bring in all the s tock-~180 head--and place them on the route to the south and west of the Lake. Af ter that I built four stations, bne at Pleasant Valley near the UtahNeva da line, one at Deep Creek , one in Rush Valley and one at Point Look Out. I was living a t Deep Creek with my wife when we were gi'ven a furlough to come to Salt Lake and enjoy a period of rest for we had experienced a pretty rough time of it. PURC:tiASE OF PONY EYPRESS ANI MALS "I had been here but t .hree or four da ys when I was called j;o j;he front again. The summons came while I vva s dancing with my wife at a grand ball given at the Social Hall • . The messa ge was from Major Egan and was for me to go to the Sevier and buy horses for the Pony Express. I started immediately, bought the horses and met Major Egan at Camp :Floyd. There we divided the animals and he stocked the part of the route between Salt Lake and the desert while I stocked the stations from t he desert to Roberts Creek, Nevada. I stayed at this place until the pony came i n from the west when I continued the journey to Salt Lake 1ro Ruby where Josh Perkins relieved me and came on as far as Shell Creek where James Gentry mounted a fresh pony and rode to Deep Creek where Lot Huntington was waiting to convey the express to S.i¥1ps,on Springs. From this station John Fisher was the carrier to Rush Valley or Camp Floyd, I don't remember which. Tvia j0-r Egan made the ride that , completed the route from Camp Floyd to Salt Lake. The men named, together with myself composed the first coterie of riders over the country I ha ve described. After that trip the regular riders fell into their places and per f ormed their work . " I ·~ .... |
