By JoLynn Fox (Editor’s note: In 2003, the following account of the Navajo County Sheriff’s Hashknife Posse was given by the late Grant Brinkerhoff, a charter member of the posse with then Sheriff L. Ben Pearson.) “Our first meeting was held at my boot shop in 1954,” related Grant Brinkerhoff, a founding member of the Hashknife Posse. He recalled that an organized search and rescue group was needed to be available at a moment’s notice. Hunters came up missing in an early November snowstorm, and an organized group that also knew the country could be valuable. Brinkerhoff said that a second meeting was held at the First National Bank of Holbrook, with even more men attending. A third meeting to organize was held at the Navajo County Fairgrounds in Holbrook, and the Hashknife Posse was officially organized to help the sheriff’s office with search and rescue and other areas, as needed. The list of founding members included Dutch Boyce, Grant Brinkerhoff, Ray DeSpain, Roy Downing, Ted Gerwitz, Vic Gerwitz, Allen Hensley, Charles Jennings, Robert Koury, C.F. Lee, Sheriff L. Ben Pearson, Cephas Perkins, Harvey Randall, Dutch Rupkey, Harvey Smithson, Art Whiting and Jack Woods. All have since passed away. “About that time the posse bought a small old home on what is now Joy Nevin Avenue. The woman who had lived there used to sell bootleg whiskey from her window during Prohibition,” he recalled. The old building became the home of the posse. Brinkerhoff said that the work that the sheriff called upon the posse to help with increased, including helping to guard prisoners or to find those who had escaped from the old jail at the county courthouse in downtown Holbrook. “One prisoner who took off went to Taylor. That was during the days that Taylor grew acres of cucumbers for the pickle factory in Phoenix. He stole a flatbed truck from a field that was loaded with pickles. It didn’t take us too long to find him, as Cephas followed the trail of pickles and soon caught up with him,” recalled Brinkerhoff. “During our monthly meetings, we soon got to planning an annual stampede for adult riders. After about five years, we called it the Hashknife Posse Junior Stampede, and youngsters had loads of fun, at least those who weren’t all teary-eyed about riding the young calves. We hosted the stampede for about 20 years all together, during which time our wives organized a Hashknife Jills group that provided a lot of support, help and fund-raising activities,” he related. Brinkerhoff said that in 1958, the group came up with the idea of riding pony express-style to carry a letter of invitation to then Governor Paul Fannin to attend the stampede held in July. Ray DeSpain rode the last mile or two of the trip to Phoenix to deliver the invitation to the state capitol. The 200-mile trip from Holbrook to Phoenix took a total of 22 hours riding time. The pony express of the Old West was reborn, and in 1959, with assistance from Holbrook Postmaster Ernest Hulet, the Hashknife Posse secured a contract with the U.S. Postal Service to carry official mail to Phoenix during the Phoenix Junior Chamber of Commerce’s Rodeo of Rodeos. That contract has been issued to the Hashknife Posse for 55 years, making it the longest continuous contract with the postal service to carry mail by horseback. The posse was incorporated in 1959 as the Navajo County Sheriff’s Posse, a non-profit organization, whose purposes are “To aid and assist all law enforcement agencies in any and all emergencies when called upon, and also in cases of non-emergencies when additional assistance is needed by such agencies; to aid in all types of civil defense matters; to participate in parades and other endeavors anywhere within or without the state of Arizona for the purpose of bringing publicity to Navajo County; to conduct and engage in rodeos and other types of entertainment for the purpose of bringing people in to Navajo County and/or for the purpose of raising funds to meet corporate expenses; and, in this connection it shall have the right to resort to any type of legal fund-raising activities that it may elect; and to buy, sell, own, trade, rent, lease, mortgage or liquidate real estate and personal property of all kinds and character and to borrow money for the use and benefit of the corporation.” The first board of directors of the posse included Cephas Perkins, L. Ben Pearson, C.F. Lee, Brinkerhoff and Roy Downing. Brinkerhoff said that at first, each pair of riders would carry the mail on a 15-mile leg, with each carrying the mailbags seven and a half miles. Later, as the membership grew, the length of each leg has dropped to about a mile or so, depending on the terrain and areas where the mail can be exchanged safely. “We had some winters back in those years with drifts piled up along the roadway. I was to make a mail pass to Glen Flake one year, and as I turned to hand over the bag, he disappeared. All you could see was his blue eyes in three to four feet of snow that covered over a wash. His horse had gone down and Glen flew off to the side. Everything was okay, though, and we remounted to continue the ride,” explained the life member of the posse. He also recalled that Orson Shreeve used to jump over the snowdrifts, as his horse knew where the drifts were. After a few years, the posse changed its destination, and the end of the ride became the official kickoff for Scottsdale’s Parada del Sol celebration. Brinkerhoff said the posse members ordered leather riding shirts from him, and he custom-made the fringed shirts at his boot shop. “Some of them would order the leather, while others would bring in their own that they tanned,” he said. In 1963, Brinkerhoff served as the posse captain. His trail boss was Cephas Perkins, and the swing bosses were Dutch Boyse, Ben Pearson and Paul Ellsworth. Harry Long was the official road marker. The list of riders included George Shugart, John Hammons, Menlo Klingman, Frank Adair, John Paulsell, Warren Hutcherson, Mike Matty, Gayle Perkins, Roy Downing, Bob Bennett, Howard Ogden, Art Reynolds, Tex Hunter, Leroy Jones, Glen Flake, Virgil Stuart, Dick Kennedy, Wendell Stockton, Harvey Randall, Lorn Fawcett, Tony Johnson, Fred Lisitzky, Harvey Smithson, D. Stradling and Orson Shreeve. Brinkerhoff made the annual pony express ride for 32 years, participating in most of the search and rescue operations during that time, and helped with the annual stampede, and other Hashknife appearances and assignments. He said that the posse always had fun while working, whether it was promoting Navajo County or protecting its citizens. “It was a type of brotherhood and way of life. Civic and businessmen in the Holbrook area dedicated their time to serve in the posse. It was not a riding club, but a group of experienced and hardy men used to the saddle that was subject to be called out anytime of the day or night,” he emphasized. The posse had its own chuckwagon from the beginning, and Vic Gerwitz was the chief cook for many years. The chuckwagon and its crew still serve the riders along the route. It also has been used over the years to serve up posse burgers, breakfasts and steak dinners at various community events or to raise funds for the annual posse ride. Brinkerhoff said that he never imagined that the annual pony express ride would still be happening. “The Navajo County Sheriff’s Hashknife Posse and Pony Express Ride has more history than the original pony express riders in the 1800s,” he commented. The original pony express lasted little more than a year.