Riders set out on Pony Express Trail

Wednesday, June 9, 1999 | 9:24 a.m.

Fourteen-year-old Richard King of Stewartsville kicked off the annual trail ride Tuesday, dashing off on horseback from St. Joseph with the mailbag slung over his horse's back. He handed the bag off to a second rider waiting four miles down the trail in Elwood, Kan.

A series of riders will follow the old Pony Express Trail through Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and stop in California June 18.

Gary Chilcote, vice president of the National Pony Express Association, which sponsors the ride, said most riders of the original 1860s Pony Express mail service were young and lightweight like Richard.

"They wanted young, skinny, wiry, fellows because the horse carried 20 pounds of mail. You put a 100-pound kid on there and that's about all a horse could handle going across the country," Chilcote said.

This year's 550 riders range in age from 14 to 88 and are from the United States, Germany and the Czech Republic.

The riders will carry 1,200 commemorative letters around the clock to Sacramento. The mail's arrival will mark the start of Rail Fair at the California Railroad Museum. The celebration is scheduled in conjunction with the unveiling of the U.S. Postal Service's commemorative Gold Rush Stamp.

Richard is no stranger to the Pony Express tradition. His parents, John and Suzanne King, have been participating in the rides for more than a decade, and Richard has fired the cannon to signal the start of the trek since he was 11 years old.

"My dad, mom and grandpa did it, and I've just been waiting for my chance to carry the mail," he said.