Photos: Retracing the Pony Express route
At the April 2010 festivities surrounding the 150th anniversary of the Pony Express in St. Joseph, Mo., Justin Rother portrays Johnny Fry, reputed to be the Express’ first westbound rider. (Coco Walters / Associated Press)
The Patee House Museum in St. Joseph, Mo., once the finest hotel west of the Mississippi, has re-created its Pony Express office on the first floor. “It was a hotel three times and a girls’ college twice, and it was a shirt factory for 80 years,” said museum director Gary Chilcote of the Patee House, (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
The vintage Museum Hill B&B sits in the oldest part of St. Joseph, Mo. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
The Museum Hill B&B is an 1880s-era home offering four rooms and a prime St. Joseph location. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
In St. Joseph, Mo., the brick-walled Pony Express National Museum stands on the site where the original Pony Express stables stood in 1860. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
In St. Joseph, Mo., where the Pony Express began, the national museum advertises with a little wicked wit. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
A glimpse of This Is the Place Heritage Park, a living-history site near the old Pony Express route in Salt Lake City that salutes Mormon pioneers and the various cultures of the American West. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
The Mormon Church is still building near the fountains and gardens that surround its downtown Salt Lake City temple. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
A marker notes the site where Salt Lake City’s Pony Express station used to be. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Old Sacramento, which features dozens of historic buildings including the original Pony Express terminus, is popular with school groups. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Outside the Wells Fargo Museum in Old Sacramento, where Pony Express riders finished their westbound journeys in 1860-61, two young visitors from Vacaville, Calif., Shateema Harrison, left and Kelis Atkins, both 10 years old, get acquainted with a carriage horse. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Near the corner of 2nd and J streets in Old Sacramento, a marker commemorates Pony Express riders who ended their journeys in the California capital. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
