Photos: Pony Express anniversary
The Pony Express ran from April 3, 1860, to October, 1861.
It carried messages, mail and small packages from St. Joseph, Missouri, across the Great Plains and Rockies to Sacramento, Calif. It allowed messages to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts in about 10 days.
First the Civil War and then the telegraph brought about the end of the Pony Express, but the romance lingers today.
Pony Express anniversary
This famous painting of the relay of mail at a Pony Express station, entitled "The Coming and Going of the Pony Express," was done by Frederic Remington. The original hangs in the Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art in Tulsa, Okla., Photographed March 18, 1960. (AP Photo)
Pony Express anniversary
Doug Keiser of Gothenburg gallops his horse past a farm home on the historic Pony Express Trail as he carries the Olympic Torch and flame near Gothenburg, Neb., on Tuesday, May 14, 1996. The Pony Express is scheduled to carry the torch across Nebraska non stop for 58 hours. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
Pony Express anniversary
Ice encrusted the statue of Pony Express in St. Joseph, Mo., on Tuesday Dec. 11, 2007. In northeast Missouri towns like Bowling Green and Palmyra, more freezing rain was adding to the layer, in some places 2 inches thick , of sleet and frozen precipitation already on the ground. (AP Photo/St. Joseph News-Press, Ival Lawhon Jr.)
Pony Express anniversary
Galloping along the old Overland Trail, a Pony Express rider waves to a crew of Western Union linemen building the first transcontinental telegraph. Indians, watching the scene from a hill in the distance, called the telegraph the white man's "long tongue." When the line was completed at Salt Lake City, October 24, 1861, the colorful Pony Express passed out of existence. Photographed October 22, 1951. (AP Photo)
Pony Express anniversary
Sen. Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., left, receives first of many Pony Express deliveries planned to celebrate the opening of the pavilion at the old post office, from Marshall Drecchio a pony express rider, in front of the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, August 4, 1983 in Washington. (AP Photo/Scott Applewhite)
Pony Express anniversary
The progress during the last century in the speed of delivering U.S. mail was illustrated at the Chicago Fair, when a twice daily helicopter air mail service was started. Pony Express rider, William Richmond, from the fair's "Frontiers of Freedom" Pageant, gives a pouch of mail to Copter pilot Don Jergens, right, as Crosby Kelly, executive manager of the fair assists. The helicopter will pick up mail posted on July 28, 1950 at the Fair's branch postoffice twice daily. (AP Photo/ESK)
Pony Express anniversary
Two leather pouches of mail carried by the oldest and the newest of America's postal transportation were presented to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington by the Oregon Trails Association as a memento of the 75th anniversary of the Pony Express, Aug. 22, 1935. Association officials flew in the mail from St. Joseph, Mo. Left to right, Arthur A. Proctor, New York, Boy Scout Foundation secretary; Sen. William H. King (D-Utah); President Roosevelt; and Stephen Early, White House secretary. (AP Photo/George R. Skadding)
Pony Express anniversary
Actors Josh Brolin, left, Stephen Baldwin, center with hat, Gregg Rainwater and Ty Miller in between takes on the set of the televsion show "The Young Riders" at Old Tucson Studios in August, 1989. Photo by Rick Wiley, Tucson Citizen
Pony Express anniversary
Cast and crew filming a segment of the televsion show "The Young Riders" inside the courthouse at Old Tucson Studios in August, 1989. Photo by Rick Wiley, Tucson Citizen
Pony Express anniversary
Crew members relax in between takes on the set of the televsion show "The Young Riders" at Old Tucson Studios in August, 1989. Photo by Rick Wiley, Tucson Citizen
Pony Express anniversary
Actor Josh Brolin, who played Jimmy Hickok in the television show "The Young Riders" on the set at Old Tucson Studios in August, 1989. Photo by Rick Wiley, Tucson Citizen
The Titanic sank on April 15, 1912. Remember the Titanic with these photos from an exhibition in Tucson in 2010.