Hashknife Pony Express 2018
The Pony Express Rides Again!
Each year in Arizona, the Hashknife Pony Express re-enacts the Pony Express ride. This year, 2018, marks the 60th year of the Hashknife Pony Express ride.
As you can see in this photo, the Hashknife route is shown on the black flag, the Arizona flag is the one in the center, and the U.S. Postal Service flag is the blue and white flag shown on the right.
The American flag is not in the photo but started off the parade of horses.
The Pony Express Route
The 2018 Hashknife Pony Express ran from February 2 in Winslow, Arizona and ended in Scottsdale, Arizona on February 10 with a parade.
Towns and places in Arizona along the route include Heber/Overgaard, Holbrook, Christopher Creek, Pine, Payson, Fountain Hills, and the Verde River.
What Is a Hashknife?
Well, like it sounds, a hashknife was a tool used by chuckwagon cooks and cowboys to chop up meat for hash.
Pony Express Mail Delivery
According to the Scottsdale Public Art website, "The original Pony Express was created on April 3, 1860 to carry mail from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, a distance of 1,960 miles. The mail cost $1 to $5 per ounce and was carried in a leather vest or mochila designed for a quick change."
All Photos by the Author
Check out my others posts here:
Introducing Peggy and Mister Tom Cat
Winchester, the House That Ghosts Built
Freelance Editing Post 1: Offer to Edit for Free
Flat Stanley Comes to Arizona
Wow - if the mail cost $1 to $5 per ounce, it was just something the rich could do. According to one inflation calculator online, $1 in 1860 is equivalent to $28.69 today. So when we were still using snail mail, we didn't realize what a good deal we had.
I was thinking the same thing, that it must have been expensive. Thanks for looking that up! The high cost is a fact that I don't remember learning about the Pony Express.
Your post reminded me that here in Australia, in the early days, the mail was delivered by horse-drawn stagecoach.
The bad guys -- called bushrangers here -- would raid the coaches and steal the valuables on board. One of the most famous of our bushrangers was Ned Kelly (died 1880). I wonder if he ever heard of the Pony Express.
Gary
I've heard of Ned Kelly, but I didn't know who he was. Thanks for that bit of trivia.
Ned Kelly was the son of early Irish immigrants to our country. Actually not so much immigrants but prisoners. His father was sentenced in 1841 to seven years' transportation for stealing two pigs - which is how the Kellies came to Oz. Lots of Irish came here for the same reason. I don't think the Brits liked the Irish very much. And from all accounts, the feeling was mutual.