80 Skinny Boys

That's what it amounted to, one of the great memories of the American West—the Pony Express: 80 skinny boys and their fast ponies. This western icon, beginning in 1860, existed at a most turbulent time in American history—the Civil War was looming, the Mexican War was waging, the Mormon War was simmering, gold was discovered in California and Colorado. Maybe the image of young boys flying across the plains to deliver mail in record times was a respite from the anxieties. Maybe it exemplified