Pony Express Through the Panhandle
Near Scottsbluff, Nebraska
When the Pony Express launched in April eighteen sixty, its riders followed the same corridor that Oregon Trail emigrants had used for nearly two decades. Through the Nebraska Panhandle, a string of stations served this stretch of the route. One sat near Chimney Rock, though its exact site is uncertain.
Another, called Ficklin's Springs, was near present-day Melbeta. The home station at Scotts Bluff is believed to have stood near old Fort Mitchell. Riders changed horses every fifteen miles, galloping in relay across nearly two thousand miles from Saint Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento.
The entire route took about ten days. The transcontinental telegraph line was completed in October eighteen sixty-one, eliminating the need for the Pony Express within eighteen months of its founding. The stations vanished almost as quickly as they had appeared.
