Name/Title
Pony Express Hits Obstacles Again, News Article, Kansas City Star, March 9, 1960Entry/Object ID
AM1991.1.145Scope and Content
Pony Express Hits Obstacles Again, News Article, Kansas City Star, March 9, 1960. News article about conflicts between groups about the date of a commemorative stamp when planning the Centennial.
As 100th anniversary of the first run draws near, St. Joseph battles national groups over plans for a re-enactment of the ride. The squabble concerns the announcement of a July 19 rerun over the Pony Express trail and the Postoffice department's issue of a Pony Express centennial stamp and new commemorative envelope on July 19, while St. Joseph is centering its celebration and rerun on the April 3 date.
St. Joseph is on the defensive and the prospects of an early armistice are not hopeful. Involved in the feud are the Postoffice department in Washington, this city's postoffice and most of its civic and historical organization, and historical groups from across the country and the National Pony Express Centennial association headed by Waddell Smith, a great-grandson of W. B. Waddell, who was a partner in the firm that operated the Pony Express. The confusion began when the National Pony Express Centennial association announced it would celebrate the 100th birthday of the express with a rerun on July 19, the date the Mormons arrived in Salt Lake City under the guidance of Brigham Young.
Various groups here planning the April 3, re-enactment of the ride by riding clubs from this area and from California reported they were not officially notified of the rerun to be made by the national association July 19.
Roy E. Coy, chairman of the St. Joseph Centennial committee and director of the museum here, said he doubted if the July rerun would receive much support from organizations here where it is expected to originate.
The second blow came to the city when the Postoffice department said the centennial stamp would be issued on July in Sacramento, instead of in St. Joseph on the date the first ride was made form this town, where the express came into being.
When St. Joseph found it couldn't get the stamp, it was asked that a new commemorative stamped envelope be made available here on April 3. The request was approved but again the town suffered a setback. The Postoffice department stated that U. S. mail could not be carried by the horseback riders April 3. The mail will be carried when the run sponsored by the national association is made.
These happenings, the citizens of St. Joseph feel, are insulting and leave the impression St. Joseph was not important to the beginning of that history making project
Amid the confusion over the historic occasion, now less than a month away. St. Joseph continues to plan and organize for the 2-day celebration.
Included is a news photo of the building which housed the horses used by the Pony Express riders who carried the mail from St. Joseph to California.
Also a news photo of replica of the saddle and mochila used by the riders.Lexicon
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