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[RC] Pony Bob & Cold Springs - DreamWeaver

I was thinking about how Chief got to deliver Pony Express mail during the Cold Springs XP this year and how Don Funk nicknamed him Sponge Bob. I put the two together and now his new nickname for today anyway is Pony Bob. (Chief gets all the cool nicknames, at least compared to Rocky <g>).

Here is some history on Pony Bob, the rider, and Cold Springs Station. btw, Buckland's is where the 5 week long ride starts from today and of course you guys know all about where Cold Springs is. The riders on the 5 week long ride will be staying there tomorrow night. I love reading about the history of the various stations that we have been at and Cold Springs has some interesting history.

Pony Bob Haslam is credited with having made the longest round trip ride of the Pony Express. He had received the east bound mail (probably the May 10th mail from San Francisco) at Friday's Station. At Buckland's Station his relief rider was so badly frightened over the Indian threat that he refused to take the mail. Haslam agreed to take the mail all the way to Smith's Creek for a total distance of 190 miles without a rest. After a rest of nine hours, he retraced his route with the westbound mail. At Cold Springs he found that Indians had raided the place killing the station keeper and running off all of the stock. Finally he reached Buckland's Station, making the 380-mile round trip the longest on record.

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One story tells how Pony Bob received the mochila with President Lincoln's address at Smith's Creek, Nev., and sped west, making the fastest run ever to Cold Springs, Nev., one of the major stops along the trail to Fort Churchill. He had seen no Indians along the way, and this seemed too good to be true. At Cold Springs, he asked for "Old Buck," not the fastest horse, but one noted for fighting against the Indians.


Mounted on Old Buck and on his way to Fort Churchill, Pony Bob found himself charging through a series of ambushes. Finally, Old Buck pointed his ears forward and snorted a warning as Haslam cocked his two guns and rode on. Indians came at him from all directions.

Dropped flat on his horse, Bob raced on as Indians boiled out of the brush, firing bullets and arrows from every direction. Soon he was surrounded by mounted war-riors, several on stolen Pony Express ponies.

Old Buck could outrun the Indian ponies, but not the swift Pony Express ponies. Bob had no choice but to shoot the ponies as they approached him. One by one, Haslam got the Indian ponies, until there were only three left. As these dropped back, an arrow struck Bob's left arm, hit the bone and remained there quivering. Haslam managed to get the arrow out, and rode on through a narrow ravine that forced the Indians following him to fall into single file. He was able to shoot down two more Indian ponies, but the third escaped.

Tossing away one empty revolver, he took out the other one and turned to fire at the oncoming Indian. An arrow tore into his cheek, knocking out five teeth and fracturing his jaw. He did not lose consciousness, but turned and emptied his gun at the remaining Indian. Old Buck carried him to Middle Gate Relay Station. There, Bob spent a few minutes caring for his wounds, but he insisted on finish-ing his run to Fort Churchill. In this remarkable episode, the famous Pony Express rider, badly wounded, had gone 120 miles in eight hours and 10 minutes under circumstances that make today's Wild West stories seem tame.

Pony Bob's epic ride was a part of the fastest trip made by the Pony Express. The mail was carried from St. Joseph, Mo., to Sacramento, Calif., in seven days and 17 hours.

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144. COLD SPRINGS/EAST GATE STATION: NR, 5/16/78, 26CH310

Sources generally agree on the identity of Cold Springs as a station, and Raymond and Mary Settle give Cold Springs the status of a home station.

Bolivar Roberts, J. G. Kelly, and their crew erected Cold Springs Station in March 1860 for the C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co. as they prepared for the beginning of the Pony Express the next month. Several men managed station operations at Cold Springs, including Jim McNaughton, John Williams, and J. G. Kelly. In May 1860, Indians attacked the station, killed the stationkeeper, and took the horses. They raided the station again a few weeks later. When Richard Burton reached Cold Springs on October 15, 1860, he found a roofless, partially built station house. Townley notes that the Overland Mail Company line dropped Cold Springs from its route about July 1861 in favor of a site west of present U. S. 50.

Much of the station's stone ruins still exist today. Thick walls, complete with windows, gunholes, and a fireplace, identify the station, and the remains of a corral stand nearby. As in Burton's visit in 1860, the structure has no roof. The station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has been structurally stabilized for preservation and safety reasons.

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The Cold Springs Pony Express Station is located on US 50 65 miles west of Austin. An interpretive center near the highway explains the history of the site and marks the beginning of a 1-1/2-mile trail to the station.

In March of 1860, Cold Springs Pony Express Station was built by Superintendent Bolivar Roberts, J.G. Kelly and others. It was put to use by the Pony Express in early April. Jim McNaughton was the station keeper at Cold Springs until he became a rider. J. G. Kelly was assistant station keeper at Cold Springs for a while.

The 1860 structure was built of large native rocks and mud. It was a large station, measuring 116 feet by 51 feet. The walls were four to six feet high and up to three feet thick. There were four distinct rooms -- storage area, barn, corral, and living quarters. The horse corral was located next to the living quarters primarily as a safety measure to guard the valuable animals. This location also took full advantage of the animals' body heat during cold Nevada winters. The only other source of heat was from one small fireplace.

On Bob Haslam's famous ride he stopped at Cold Springs to change horses and went on to Smith Creek Station. He stayed there nine hours and when he returned to Cold Springs he found it had been attacked by Indians, the keeper killed and all the horses taken away. Bob watered his horse and headed for Sand Springs.

The following morning Smith Creek Station was attacked by Indians. The whites, however, were well protected in the shelter of a stone house, from which they fought the Indians for four days. At the end of that time they were relieved by the appearance of about 50 volunteers from Cold Springs. These men reported that they had buried John Williams, the brave keeper of that station, but not before he had been nearly devoured by wolves.

A few weeks after "Pony" Bob Haslam's ride, problems were still arising at Cold Springs Station as was reported to W. W. Finney, road agent from C.H. Ruffin, an employee of the company (May 31, 1860):

"I have just returned from Cold Springs - was driven out by the Indians, who attacked us night before last. The men at Dry Creek Station have been killed, and it is thought the Robert's Creek Station has been destroyed. The Express turned back after hearing the news from Dry Creek. Eight animals were stolen from Cold Springs on Monday. Hamilton is at the Sink of the Carson, on his way in with all the men and horses. He will get to Buckland's tomorrow."

Cold Springs Station was the site of other unhappy events as reported by a Placerville newspaper letter to the editor on May 31, 1860:

"Bartholomew Riley died last night in Carson City of a rifle-shot wound received at Cold Springs Station, on the Pony Express route, on the 16th of May. He had received an honorable discharge from Company E of the 19th Regiment of U. S. Infantry, at Camp Floyd, and was in route to California where he has brothers and sisters residing, when intelligence of the Indian outrage at William's ranch was first brought to Carson. As might be expected from a gallant soldier, he did not hesitate what course to pursue, but at once threw himself into the ranks of the ill-fated volunteers, under Major Ormsby. During the trying scenes of that bloody day at Pyramid Lake, he was conspicuous among them all for the intrepidity and gallantry of his conduct. Like the white plume of Henry Navarre, his course was where the battle raged fiercest, and he heeded them not. More than one of the dusky enemy were made painfully aware of the unerring accuracy of his aim whilst his were the friendly hands that performed the last kind services for the lamented Ormsby.

"Among the last to leave the field, Riley did not reach Buckland until the Express going east arrived on the 15th of May. The rider upon whom developed the duty of going forward with the Express shrinking from its performance and when there seemed no alternative but a failure, Riley, fresh from the battle field and tired as he was, stepped forth and volunteered to ride to the next change, a distance of 85 miles. He did so in excellent time.

"On the following day, at Cold Springs Station, by the accidental discharge of a weapon in the hands of a friend, he received wounds from which he died last night. He sleeps - he has fought his last battle - may the last trump awake him to glory again."

After the Indian problems of the spring and summer of 1860, Sir Richard Burton passed through Cold Springs in his travels and gave this account on October 15, 1860:

"The station was a wretched place half built and wholly unroofed; the four boys, an exceedingly rough set, ate standing, and neither paper nor pencil was known amongst them. Our animals, however, found good water in a rivulet from the neighboring hills and the promise of a plentiful feed on the morrow. Whilst the humans, observing that a beef had been freshly killed supped upon an excellent steak. The warm wind was a pleasant contrast to the usual frost but as it came from the south all the weather-wise predicted that rain would result. We slept however without such accident, under the haystack, and heard the loud howling of the wolves, which are said to be larger on these hills than elsewhere."

Station keepers and riders were continually changing. Another rider that stayed at Cold Springs was William James. He rode in 1861 between Simpson Park and Cold Springs. Today at Cold Springs a substantial fortress still stands out on the trail. Living quarters and corral are easily recognized as well as windows, gun holes, and a fireplace. The "rivulet of good water from the neighboring hills, that Burton found so refreshing is still running by the old ruins.

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