Customer Reviews

The Pony Express: A Photographic History

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The Moellers capture the real pony express in a way only they can!

The photos are stunning! I am proud to have this book on my coffee table!

You will want to take this trip yourself!

This is a really good book in most ways. The pictures showing the locations of some of the Pony Express stations, some with remaining features visible, really bring the existence of the Express to life despite the long years since its brief operation.

The writers acknowledge, to their credit, that some of the information which they publish regarding certain Pony Express riders may be different than what is printed elsewhere. Despite their caveat, I was particularly disappointed to see that in his brief write-up, they took a rather casual attitude towards Robert "Pony Bob" Haslam, who is generally regarded as probably the greatest rider in the history of the Express. In this book the authors say that he may have only claimed the long rides attributed to him, and that "some sources claim that he never rode for the Pony Express" and had been only as a stagecoach driver.

Robert Haslam's entry in the 1860 US Census has recently been found. It lists him (with his last name spelled 'Hashlam' but the other information makes clear it is him) - and his occupation as "Pony Express Rider". Haslam was surveyed for the census a mere few months after the beginning of the Express and it seems highly doubtful that he would have begun making up stories of being a Pony Express rider at such an early date. The opinion of a small minority that he might have not been a Pony Express rider was given too much weight to begin with, and that opinion now has been disproved. Robert "Pony Bob" Haslam was indeed a Pony Express rider, likely the greatest of them all.

Having corrected that mistake, the rest of the book is well worth reading and enjoying.

I purchased this book as a gift for a friend. He absolutely loved it. He called me to say he had actually been to a couple of the "stops" listed in the book. I just briefly thumbed thru it, before wrapping it, and it had great pictures and was not to wordy. Just enough information to keep you interested without becoming bored and laying the book down. Would recommend this book to any one interested in the Pony Express!