Pony Express salutes Sidney, Neb.

SIDNEY, Neb. — Cabela family lore puts an Irish ancestor in a Pony Express saddle riding across the high plains of Nebraska Territory.

Next spring, the National Pony Express Association plans to dedicate a monument in Sidney to pay tribute to the intrepid riders who carried saddlebags of mail across the West.

The site will be a grassy half-acre island outside a modern-day way station for tens of thousands of travelers each year — Cabela's.

Sidney residents are digging their spurs into a national campaign to raise more than $100,000 to complete a horseshoe-shaped monument featuring a bronze sculpture of a rider aboard a horse in full gallop.

The goal is to complete the monument by mid-June 2010, in time for festivities surrounding national events marking the 150th anniversary of the start of the Pony Express.

“It's a work in progress, but things are looking good,'' said Dalan Hiett, a Sidney city councilman and chairman of the Jaycees civic group leading the monument project. “It took far too long to get to this point, but we're confident.''

Sidney Jaycees plan to unveil drawings and a model of the monument and officially kick off a final fundraising push on Nov. 12.

The bronze sculpture will be rimmed by eight granite markers, laid out in the shape of a horseshoe, representing the states on the Pony Express trail — Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California. Each of the markers will feature a sketch and information about one of the stops in that state — and represent a nail hole in the horseshoe.

Sculptor David Fairbanks of Maryland plans a bronze piece based on others created by his father, the late Avard Fairbanks, who did several Pony Express sculptures during his career.

Three larger markers at the top of the horseshoe will depict the Pony Express trail, its founders, the rider's oath and other information.

The Pony Express cinched a colorful role in America's Old West despite operating for only 18 months from 1860 to 1861, when completion of Omahan Edward Creighton's Pacific Telegraph Co. line ended the need for mail relay.

“Even though it didn't last long, there's no single episode in the West that better emphasizes the American spirit than does the Pony Express,” said Arleta Martin of Oketo, Kan., co-chairwoman of the Pony Express' sesquicentennial.

“It pulled the nation together.''

Pony Express riders carried mail more than 1,800 miles between St. Joseph, Mo., and Sacramento, Calif., in 10 days. Riders covered 250 miles each, riding day and night, passing along saddlebags of mail to fresh riders on fresh horses.

There were 53 Pony Express stations in Nebraska, from Rock Creek Station in southeast Nebraska to Pole Creek No. 3 east of Sidney and on to Fort Mitchell near the Wyoming border. Nebraska had more miles of trail than any of the other territories and states crossed.

William F. Cody — later famous as Buffalo Bill Cody — was a Pony Express rider.

So perhaps was Michael Casey — later famous as a great-grandfather of the brothers who started Cabela's, the Sidney-based outdoor outfitter.

Maybe. Jerry Cabela, another great-grandson of Chappell, Neb., isn't convinced.

“We don't know for sure,'' Cabela said. “The old Irishman might have been full of blarney. I hate to say that because it's a neat story.''

The problem for Cabela is that his great-grandfather Casey would have been only 8 years old when the Pony Express folded in 1861.

“It's possible that he was a Pony Express rider, but not probable,'' Cabela said.

Casey was the son of Irish immigrants. Born in New York state in 1853, he came to Nebraska Territory with his parents sometime in the 1850s. Family stories indicate that he worked in an uncle's butcher shop in what is now Julesburg, Colo., at the time of the Pony Express.

Dorothy Wedberg of Lincoln, a granddaughter of Michael Casey, said her mother and grandmother kept Casey's Pony Express history alive after his death from a heart attack at age 59 in 1912. He is buried in Lincoln's Calvary Cemetery.

“Mother always said he was a rider with the Pony Express,'' Wedberg said. “He was quite young.''

Wedberg recalls a long-lost photograph of Casey holding the rope of a tree swing he built. He was tall, broad-shouldered and wore a little mustache.

It's not impossible that Casey could have been a rider, said Lyle Gronewold of Gothenburg, Neb., president of the Nebraska chapter of the National Pony Express Association.

“Some rode at a really young age,'' he said. “He could have been a relief rider. If he was around, he probably did. Some riders got sick or quit, and someone would have to carry the mail. Some kids 6 or 8 years old ride better than young men.''

The Sidney monument will be the first in the nation to commemorate the entire trail, organizers said. The Cabela's company donated the site.

Whether or not his ancestor was a rider, Jerry Cabela hopes to ride into Sidney with a 10-year-old grandson in the 150th anniversary re-ride June 18.

“Just for the heck of it,'' Cabela said.

Contact the writer:

444-1127, david.hendee@owh.com