26, 1861 when it terminated with arrival of the telegraph in Sacramento on that date. During the 18 months it operated, it made 303 runs daily for a total of 616,000 miles, 24 times the distance around the earth. It carried 35,000 pieces of mail and a loss of only one machila. Throughout its operations the pony express remained a private enterprise receiving no financial help and but little encouragement from the Government. Financially it was a complete fiasco, infurring to its promoters who took the chances and assumed the risks, a loss of $500.00, but in all other aspects, it was a glorious and heroic episode in the story of the American West. Success to which it attained was not, as indicated above, due to any support of the Government, but was rightly attributed to wise management of promoters and more particularily, to the courage and determination of valiant men who refused to be cowed by discomforts and dangers of deserts, flooding rivers, and marauding Indians. In the story of this daring frontier venture replete with trials and dangers that challenged man's dexterity, courage, and qualities of endurance, two men stood out predominantly for acts of bravery and heroism and only one of all the riders refused to make the second trip. "Pony Bob" Haslum on one trip arrived at a station to find it demolished and relay man missing, was forced to continue on to the next station and make a round trip which kept him in the saddle 36 hours continuously except for time consumed in changing horses, covering a distance of 380 miles. This remarkable feat was exceeded by only one other, a 15 year old boy named William Frederick Cody, who met with similar circumstances and had no alternative but to remain riding except for time lost in changing mounts and grabbing a mail bag, covering a distance of 384 miles. For unyielding devotion to duty in rendering service the Government and people so urgently needed during days that determined whether or not this Nation would remain a united body of free states, "Pony Bob" Haslam was awarded a $50 bonus by the Firm of Russell, Majors, and Waddell. Whether Mr. Cody was awarded likewise for his services is not known. But we do know the role he played in that historic episode and distinction he won in many public activities, endeared him in the hearts of the American people in the minds of whom he was elevated to deserving place among the great of our nation and became world renowned as the famous Buffalo Bill. This historic figure whose life has become a legend, appeared as the great attraction of the Adam Four Paw and Sells Brothers' Circus during its visit to Ogden in 1896. At 10 A.M. the morning of the day the circus was held among the hundreds who gathered and lined the sidewalks for blocks to get a glimpse of the famous character, the writer was fortunate in obtaining a close view of him as he passed along main street in the parade which extended from South Washington to the tabernacle square where huge tents were set up ready for afternoon and evening performances. The appearance and demeanor of Mr. Cody on that occasion were such that would impress the curious minded as being those of a great American. Dressed a neatly fitted light tan uniform, a coarse silver goatee that stood out prominently against a suntaned chin and a wealth of long, white hair curled at the ends and hung loosely over the shoulders, the elderly frontiersman sitting erect in -112- the saddle with an air and dignity of a Kentucky colonel, bowed and waved a white cowboy hat in grateful recognition of the esteem and admiration in which he was held by the cheering throngs. While the pony express to living in this day and age would seem a remarkably slow means of disseminating news and messages even over short distances, but an average time of 10 days between St. Joe, Missouri and Sacramento, California a distance of 1,966 miles in the absence of the telegraph and railroad in 1860 was regarded a miraculous feat. The pony express and later extension of the telegraph through the West (Oct. 26, 1861) and the coming of the railroad in 1869 ended forever the once isolated frontier. Time didn't stay the wheels of progress. Great changes took place throughout the West after the advent of the Pony Express; a telegraph system and later the railroad. In Utah, people of Slaterville, like those of other Mormon communities of the state, who previously had no contact with the far away centers of population and markets, became more prosperous and pursued more vigorously farm production as a system of transporting goods to and from out side centers East and West from Utah became a reality. The Young Express and Carrying Company would have rendered the long desired service people of Utah needed between the Missouri Valley and Salt Lake City in the early 1850's and no doubt in a very short time the company would have extended its operations westward possibly to Sacramento had it not been for the unjustified action taken by the Federal Government against the company which delayed service people of the entire West could have realized years earlier. Following 1860 after the pony express began operating, people of the various settlements in the vicinity of Ogden had to go to Ogden to send or receive mail, and this procedure continued two or three years after the railroad came through Ogden before post offices were established in each of the various settlements which were at homes of appointed postmasters who, themselves, had to go to Ogden at intervels of two or three days, it is understood, to pick up mail for their respective settlements. The first postmaster of Slaterville was Jermiah Bateman, a devout Saint and church worker, who served as clerk of the Branch under President Thomas Richardson during the years of tenure as president. Names of those who held the office as postmaster and order in which they served over a combined period of about 30 years were: Jermiah Bateman, Davis Bartholomew, John R. Manning, Edwin W. Smout, Sarah Manning Stevens, and Lottie Wheeler. These people were postmasters until rural delivery commenced in 1902. Commencing during the latter part of Mr. Bartholomew's term as postmaster, deliveries of mail from Ogden to rural offices was made by a man on horseback or in a cart. Mail was emptied on the office floor and after that for Slaterville was sorted out, the rider was free to continue on with mail for the next settlement. Identity of the first men who were mail carriers is not available, but it is reported, a man named Walter Chase and later his brother, George, carried mail at first; this is not given as authentic. However, it is known definitely, that a man named Ernest Cowles carried -113-