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Behind the scenes away from the horses and the riders of the Hashknife Pony Express are the men who gather the mail, stamp the letters, load the bags, sell the memorabilia and make sure every permit is filed for this annual event.
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Known simply as the support crew, they are the men who ultimately ensure the success of the ride, while maintaining a sense of humor and love of the legend that has been created over the 61-year history of the ride.
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Jim Mobley, the leader of the mail crew that also includes Jerry Young, Bill Perkins, Chris Baker and Ed Hamilton, is celebrating 13 years with the Navajo County Sheriff’s Hashknife Posse and the same number of years with the Pony Express ride. Although now instead of riding a horse, Mobley rides his as truck also known as his heated “pony” at least an hour in front of the riders to collect, stamp and bag any remaining letters, so that every piece of mail can be carried by horse during the ride.
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In addition to cancelling and cacheting the letters, the mail crew is responsible for insuring the safety of the mailbags, each of which contain approximately 350 pieces of mail. Each bag is locked with a special brass lock from the railroad era and carried in the back of Young’s truck, where he insures they are appropriately cycled to insure that the letter of the contract with the United States Postal Service (USPS) is met: that each piece of mail will be carried by horseback.
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Mobley said the year that Pat Reynolds came up with the brilliant idea of making wood postcards from one-inch by eight-inch lumber, was the year one mail bag went from being about 35 pounds to more than 60 pounds of weight. “Folks loved the idea of the wooden postcard, until they realized it would cost $5 to mail,” noted Mobley.
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The first year of the wooden postcards, the Payson Postal Inspector showed up at the Payson Post Office because he had heard about the postcards. Expecting to catch the Pony Express guys shirking their duties, Mobley assured him that even the wooden post cards were travelling by horseback.
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“We put them all into one big green mail bag and gave them to Pat Reynolds to carry,” said Mobley with a chuckle. “It was Pat’s idea and we wanted him to take full credit for the weight of it. As Pat rode up with the mail bag, he handed the bag filled with wooden postcards to me and I chucked them into the arms of the inspector; proving that every piece gets carried by horseback.”
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Young is working on 17 years with the Pony Express. Up until six years ago, he was one of the riders. “The third year I rode, my horse went down and I broke my leg in 13 places,” shared Young. “Then six years ago, I was working my horse in the round pen with soft sand, when he cut loose and I came off, breaking my ankle. I figured it was time to let the younger guys do the riding.”
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As the only organization with the longest, continual contract with the USPS to carry mail, the Hashknife Pony Express mail crew takes their duties very seriously. The USPS provides them with the special cancellation stamp each year and barrels are set up at post offices in Holbrook, Winslow, Snowflake, Taylor, Show Low, Lakeside and Pinetop, as well as Heber-Overgaard.
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Starting in mid-January, in addition to collecting the mail at least weekly from each post office, Mobley and other crewmembers take time to visit the primary and middle schools of Winslow, Holbrook, Snowflake, Taylor and Show Low. “We tell the history of the Pony Express and encourage the kids and teachers to mail us some letters,” said Mobley. “We have probably had letters from every state in the Union and some from around the world. In our 50th year, we carried 28,000 letters, but that was the biggest it has ever been.”
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While there are typically only 8,000 pieces of mail, it still takes time to hand cancel, cachet and bundle the letters into the bags. “Some of the riders come in with mail that they picked up and want to cancel and cachet it,” said Mobley. “It becomes a chance for everyone to work together.”
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With 28 riders and 27 support crew members, maneuvering men, mail and horses across the 200 mile trek can be more political as well as harrowing in this modern world than it was when it started 61 years ago. Today, the Posse has to gain permits from every city and town ridden through, as well as the state, the reservation and lastly, the U.S. Forest Service to deactivate the elk crossing guards between Heber and Payson.
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Mobley estimates that it takes their Captain Mark Reynolds about six months to accomplish all of that. In addition, there is the cook wagon, the motel rooms and the parade permits. As of about four years ago the crews are now sworn in twice, once at the Friday mock run in Winslow by the Winslow postmaster and then on the Tuesday before the ride by the Holbrook postmaster.
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But in spite of all the work, Mobley said it is a part of history he loves. “I remember when we got filmed on our 49th year and then in our 50th year, Senator Jeff Flake actually took it to the Arizona government to make our route an official historical route.”
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The Pony Express left for yet another ride this morning, with the event to finish up on Saturday at the Posada del Sol Parade in Scottsdale, where they will be greeted as they will be throughout their journey; by people excited to see this tradition of the Old West carried on.
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