I love the geometry of this piece - the balance that the triangular shape gives it, and the movement and speed that come from that. I love the story of the Pony Express, too, and the guys who rode for it. The whole thing only lasted about a year and a half before it was replaced by the telegraph, but in a lot of ways it still defines what the Old West was all about. They were out there on their own - just them and their mail bags and a good horse - through floods and blizzards and Indian wars. To say they were brave doesn't even come close. And they didn't all make it home.
Some of the biggest names we know got their start there, too. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody started riding for the Pony Express when he was 14. 'Deadwood Dick' Clarke that they based the dime novels on, and who later was a scout for Custer, rode for them. And 'Pony Bob' Haslam, a Brit like Clarke, who one time rode 120 miles in 8 hours even though he'd been wounded in a scrape with a Paiute war party.
Even Wild Bill Hickok got his start with the Pony Express. He was a stock tender at the Rock Creek Station when three guys came looking for a friend of his. He ended up killing all three, and that was the beginning of his reputation as a gunman.
-GIB SINGLETON