Anticipation is increasing as members of the Navajo County Sheriff’s Hashknife Posse gear up for their 57th Pony Express Ride from Holbrook to Scottsdale carrying the U.S. Mail.
Each year the posse leaves Holbrook with bags of official U.S. Mail under the longest continuously sanctioned pony express mail contract held with the U.S. Postal Service.
This year’s ride will begin at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 28, when the first rider leaves the Holbrook Post Office with a bag of letters to be carried over the Mogollon Rim and on to Scottsdale.
The posse riders will exchange the mailbags every mile, relaying the letters to the next rider waiting alongside the roadway. All of the packed mailbags will be carried in turn over the route.
On the first day of the ride, the pony express riders will travel over State Route 77 to SR 377, stopping in Heber for lunch, then going on through Pine, where letters will be added to the mailbags. The riders will arrive in Payson at 4:45 p.m. to deliver the mail at the Payson Post Office, where it will be held until the following morning.
On the morning of Thursday, Jan. 29, the pony express riders pick up the mail at 9 a.m. and begin travelling down SR 260 to Fountain Hills where the mail will be dropped off at the post office at 4 p.m.
The following morning the riders resume their trek and arrive at the bronze Hashknife Posse monument in downtown Scottsdale on Friday, Jan. 30. The ride will finish when the mail is delivered at the main Scottsdale Post Office on Osborn Road at 12 noon, from which the mail will then be carried by conventional carriers for the remainder of the delivery.
The ride celebration starts on Monday, Jan. 26, as posse members visit Joseph City Elementary School and Holbrook Head Start to gather pony express letters from students. The following day, the posse will perform a mock handoff for school children and the public beginning at 10 a.m. on the blocks surrounding Hulet Elementary School in Holbrook, then at 12 noon the oath of office ceremony will be conducted at the historic courthouse to authorize the riders and support crew to carry the mail.
A send off dinner to honor the posse will take place at 7 o’clock that evening at the Elks Lodge. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased from Kathleen Smith at the city offices, located at 465 N. First Ave., or at the door of the event.
On the morning of the ride, the Holbrook Senior Center will host a breakfast for the Hashknife Posse, and area residents and visitors at 6 a.m. at a cost of $6 per plate. The public is invited.
The fun continues Friday on Scottsdale’s Waterfront, next to the Passing the Legacy sculpture, where a free, family-friendly event will feature interactive children’s activities that honor the Old West and the spirit of the American cowboy–learning how to saddle a horse, fashion a cowboy hat and handle a branding iron. Children will also be able to dress in working cowboy gear for family photos. Authentic Hashknife memorabilia will be on sale, and riders will be available to sign gear and answer questions. A variety of art and merchandise vendors will be part of the festival, courtesy of Artisans Market.
Special mailers are available at the Holbrook and Winslow post offices. To mail a pony express letter, postal patrons may use the special mailers or enclose a letter in a regular envelope with a return address, the addressee and required postage. In the lower left-hand corner write “Via Pony Express.” Letters may be deposited in the special pony express canisters at the two post offices. Mailers are also available to print from your home computer at www.hashknifeponyexpress.com.
The Navajo County Hashknife Sheriff’s Posse organized in 1955 as a search and rescue group, and is still involved in these types of missions. It is an equipped and trained posse that can join searches wherever needed throughout Arizona.
