An express rider was started from San…
source date: 1890
availability: public-domain

An express rider was started from San Francisco with east-bound dispatches at exactly the same time the messenger left St. Joseph. He made his ride of twenty miles in forty-nine minutes. The snows were deep in the moun- tains, and one rider was lost for several hours in a snow storm. From Salt Lake valley all went well until the Platte river was reached, at Julesburg, Neb. The river was very high and running rapidly, but the rider plunged his horse into the flood, only to mire, however, in the quicksand and drown. The courier succeeded in reaching the shore, with his mail bag in hand, and traveled ten miles on foot to the reach the next relay.