Last week, on a warm Wednesday evening, 600 riders raced on horseback across the northeastern corner of Colorado. The riders were retracing the route of the legendary Pony Express, to commemorate the mail service’s 155th anniversary.
The Pony Express followed trails that had been established along river routes, and the path dipped into Colorado at Julesberg, along a migration trail that led to California, Oregon and Utah. Years after the Pony Express ceased traveling through town, Mark Twain visited and referred to the little community as “the strangest, quaintest, funniest frontier town that our untraveled eyes had ever stared at and been astonished with.”
The Pony Express only lasted around 18 months before going bankrupt. But residents of Julesberg look fondly back to the days when you could have horsemen carry your letter across the country, never stopping, regardless of weather.
