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Thread ID: 120351 2011-09-05 04:45:00 A Little Bit Of US History - The Pony Express SurferJoe46 (51) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1228879 2011-09-05 04:45:00 I bet everyone has heard of the US Pony Express . But did youse guys know that it only ran for eighteen months?

There were relay stations every ten miles or so for fresh horses and they even ran right through a Paiute Indian rebellion (War) and that some of the mail got 'delayed' by over a year?

Interesting ads for driver/riders too:

"Wanted: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen . Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily . Orphans preferred . "

Here's the WIKI page if you're interested:: . wikipedia . org/wiki/The_Pony_Express" target="_blank">en . wikipedia . org

Just interestin', that's all . 		SurferJoe46 (51)
1228880 2011-09-05 05:39:00 Pretty famous in the movies when I was a boy. Horses were so fast and sure-footed. Mind you we began to recognise a lot of the scenery in Westerns after a while. I believe Monument Valley was a favorite filming spot. But Hopalong, Gene, Roy and the others were all good entertainment for us kids. We did notice though, even at that age, that the guys never got the girl. Tough being a cowboy I guess. Richard (739)
1228881 2011-09-05 05:42:00 Thanks Joe, very interesting. Hard to believe that it only ran for 18 months but I guess Civil War is Civil War! Bryan (147)
1228882 2011-09-05 05:59:00 I bet everyone has heard of the US Pony Express . But did youse guys know that it only ran for eighteen months?

There were relay stations every ten miles or so for fresh horses and they even ran right through a Paiute Indian rebellion (War) and that some of the mail got 'delayed' by over a year?

Interesting ads for driver/riders too:

"Wanted: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen . Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily . Orphans preferred . "

Here's the WIKI page if you're interested:: . wikipedia . org/wiki/The_Pony_Express" target="_blank">en . wikipedia . org

Just interestin', that's all .

My daughter has met this guy, Chris Corbett, she is a professor in the same department at UMBC .
. youtube . com/watch?v=6b1fIDhHb9U" target="_blank">www . youtube . com 		lakewoodlady (103)
1228883 2011-09-05 06:18:00 Yeah - thanks for that Joe. What prompted you to post it? tuiruru (12277)
1228884 2011-09-05 06:26:00 Yeah - thanks for that Joe. What prompted you to post it?

I dunnow - I was thinking about the trip I'm about to take and the thought of seeing Fort Concho and Fort Churchill again got me thinking about the Pony Express.

My house in Concho, Arizona is on The Little Colorado River and it's flows all year long to The Grand Canyon from there, although not directly.

This particular area was in a lot of movies, one of the best was in Lonesome Dove and also The Cowboys with John Wayne.

And then - my mind just wandered when I heard that Lonesome Dove was playing all day tomorrow on PBS. I have the DVDs and the VHS of it, so I won't be watching it tomorrow - but still it brought back memories of it.

The US is in holiday mode this 3-day weekend with Labor Day celebrations and these mark the unofficial end of Summer Vacation for schools and some companies that actually let their employees go on paid vacation yet. 		SurferJoe46 (51)
1228885 2011-09-05 06:48:00 I wonder how many developments have been made redundant by new technologies that quickly?
The Overseas Terminal in Wellington, built to handle liner passenger traffic was hardly open before air travel had replaced ocean voyages. 		martynz (5445)
1228886 2011-09-05 07:20:00 I dunnow - I was thinking about the trip I'm about to take and the thought of seeing Fort Concho and Fort Churchill again got me thinking about the Pony Express.

My house in Concho, Arizona is on The Little Colorado River and it's flows all year long to The Grand Canyon from there, although not directly.

This particular area was in a lot of movies, one of the best was in Lonesome Dove and also The Cowboys with John Wayne.

And then - my mind just wandered when I heard that Lonesome Dove was playing all day tomorrow on PBS. I have the DVDs and the VHS of it, so I won't be watching it tomorrow - but still it brought back memories of it.

The US is in holiday mode this 3-day weekend with Labor Day celebrations and these mark the unofficial end of Summer Vacation for schools and some companies that actually let their employees go on paid vacation yet.

Well "Happy trails" Joe (or is that something John Ford and his boys made up?) 		tuiruru (12277)
1228887 2011-09-05 15:38:00 I wonder how many developments have been made redundant by new technologies that quickly?
The Overseas Terminal in Wellington, built to handle liner passenger traffic was hardly open before air travel had replaced ocean voyages.

Not too sure - but I have a rather amusing story about the first energy crisis..................and instant financial oblivion ..........or at least lost fortunes...............

I was working in an auto repair shop next to Disneyland in Anaheim when the first oil embargo hit and ran the fuel prices through the ceiling. The guy I worked for (and wish I was still) was called Royce David Huddleston. I called him Hud for short, and he was perhaps the best employer I ever had and if he was still alive, we'd still be best buddies and working with each other.

Since many of the products we used in the shop were petroleum based, Hud decided to spec on a couple of train cars full of antifreeze/coolant.

Coolant had been (wholesale) $1.99/gallon before the embargo, and it jumped to (wholesale) $8.99/gallon and Hud saw that it was going to double or triple from that point, so he called a broker and bought two boxcars full of it at a 'wholesale discount' at $8.50/gallon.

He just KNEW it was gonna make him a multimillionaire in a couple of months. Hud was willing to wait. Hud was patient. Hud was gonna be cool.

In about two months it tanked. It actually dropped to $2.99/gallon RETAIL - and he was stuck with a product that he couldn't do anything with but give out for free - which he did ............. and took a tax dodge for the loss at an IRS re-coop rate of $0.30/gallon.

I - on the other hand - invested in R12 freon and bought 200 35 lb cans of the stuff at $13.00/can.

Three years later I was selling it at $400.00/can for a neat realized profit of $387.00/can times the 200 can-count.

Hud was not troo happy that he bought the wrong product, but he was proud of me that I saw that coming. Until the day he died, he always said: "Tiger...." (he always called me that) "......you made a killing on that freon! - My best trainee!"

I really miss that old man.

I've got some wooden spoke tightener for your Model A car that I'd like to sell though. Seems to be a niche market. 		SurferJoe46 (51)
1228888 2011-09-05 23:25:00 Try Ford, they probable got rid of theirs years ago and could put you supply into their museum! Bryan (147)
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