Why the Short-Lived Pony Express Still Fascinates Us
The Pony Express operated for less than two years, but its legend—burnished by Buffalo Bill Cody—lives on.
By Simon Worrall
PUBLISHED June 23, 2018
In its day, the Pony Express was like the Twitter or Facebook of the mid-1800s: a means of communication that could move information across the North American continent faster than ever before, though it was powered by horses.
Almost no records survived, though, so the history of the Pony Express is littered with impostors, inaccuracies, and plain bunkum. In West Like Lightning, author Jim DeFelice separates the facts from the fiction.
When National Geographic caught up with him at his home in Warwick, New York, DeFelice explained how the Pony Express came to embody rugged American virtues as much as rodeos or westerns; how Buffalo Bill Cody was its greatest promoter, though he never actually rode for the company; and why, if things had turned out differently, we would be using Pony Express cards, not American Express.
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/06/why-the-short-lived-pony-express-still-fascinates-us/
