Mail Bags and Thudding Hoofs

The Pony Express of Nova Scotia
1849

In 1849 the Oregon Boundary Dispute
was seething between
the United States and Great Britain

By Murrille Schofield
1973



My Darling Clementine

In the year 1849 the Oregon Boundary Dispute was still seething between the United States and Great Britain. There was still starvation and famine in Ireland. Europe was aflame with revolutions on the continent; Britain put down a rebellion of the Sikhs in India; Portuguese and Chinese were fighting in Macao; a Montreal mob burned down the Parliament Building and later sacked a hospital and the odd son of Erin took pot shots at Queen Victoria. The California gold rush was on and My Darling Clementine was the top song hit.

If all this turmoil has a modern ring, at least it did not invade the livingrooms and distract Nova Scotians morning, noon, and night. The fastest news media in the province was the "Halifax Express" or Pony Express which galloped 144 miles 232 km from Halifax to Digby Gut in eight hours or so, once a fortnight with the news from England. [see note 1]

This operation lasted for nine months, February 21st to November 15th, 1849, and in that period, night or day, snow or rain, the riders missed only one run.

Communications Gap

What the express riders were actually doing was bridging the communications gap temporarily between two technologies, the steam boat and the electric telegraph. The steam packets arrived about every twelve or thirteen days at Halifax from Liverpool, England. The people of the New England States, always restless, then had to wait until the steamer puffed across the water from Halifax to Boston, a matter of about 36 hours. In the meantime, Halifax merchants and business men could act on the price of stocks and commodities and take advantage of news of which their Yankee neighbours were ignorant.

A telegraph line had been built from Calais, Maine, to Saint John, New Brunswick, in 1848. The Pony Express, by delivering the mail to the waiting steamers chartered at Victoria Beach, which then crossed the Fundy to Saint John, cut about thirty-six hours off the waiting time in New York City and time was money to the Americans. There was no telephone or trans-Atlantic telegraph cable in 1849.

At first there were two rival groups each backing a separate Pony Express. Six newspapers in New York, later joined by the press of Boston and Philadelphia, established the Associated Press in Halifax. They hired Barnaby, manager of the Davidson Coach Line, to run their mail. [see note 2]

The other group was composed of commercial men and speculators of New York. They hired Hiram Hyde, manager of the King Coach Line to organize and supervise their riders. Each group chartered a steamer to wait at Digby Gut for the mail that was carried in the saddle bags. The stage was set for a 144 mile 232 km horse race, each side using twelve horses and two riders.

Competition was so keen between the two coach lines, King's and Davidson's, that they would drive a mile off the main route to pick up a passenger!

Relays of fresh horses were provided every twelve miles 19 km and the riders changed at Kentville, about 70 miles about 115 km from Halifax. The rider carried a horn on which he would blow a sharp full blast, half a mile about one kilometre before arriving at the station where he changed mounts.

As the trans-Atlantic steam boat approached Cunard's Wharf in Halifax, her steam whistle summoned a small boat whose occupants rowed frantically to collect the mail packages for the waiting couriers. At the other end of the run a gun was fired from Fort Annapolis to alert the waiting steamers of the approaching horsemen.

Hiram Hyde guaranteed that the mail would go through "as fast as horse flesh can do it and live." [see note 4] Some of the best saddle horses in the province were recruited for the Pony Express and some did not survive long. One hurtled into the covered bridge at Avonport on a dark night and dropped dead, severely injuring the rider.

The local newspapers were asleep when the first run was staged on February 21st, 1849, but they awakened and caught on to the importance of this news event on March 8th, the second trip. Here is the report of the "Halifax Express" printed Monday, March 12th, 1849.
The news from England by the America was expressed from hence to Digby Gut in the extraordinary time of eight hours, twenty-seven and one half minutes — three hours less than it was done before. Mr. Barnaby's express came in, we understand, two and one half minutes in advance of Mr. Hyde's. A serious accident which severely injured Mr. Hyde's courier occurred at Windsor Bridge and delayed the latter half an hour.

Here is the spectacle of twenty four galloping horses and four riders in relays who crossed the province from Halifax Harbour to Minas Basin and down the Fundy, a distance of 144 miles, and arrived within 150 seconds of each other. As a horse race, its glamour shades our set and mechanical exhibitions on the race track to a very pale chimera of sport and achievement.

In Halifax, John T. Smith of Boston was agent for the Associated Press group while D.H. Craig represented the commercial people of New York. [see note 3] The latter combine eventually dropped out and left the Associated Press people a clear field to carry on their news venture.

John Hall of Lawrencetown, Annapolis County, in a letter to the late John Regan, local historian, reported, that about 1848 his father kept a stable at Lawrencetown where horses were boarded for a man named Barnaby who drove a coach and ran the Pony Express.

To quote: "I well remember as a boy the delight I took in riding a horse beside my father while exercising the express horses. The event of the express passing through the village would cause as much excitement as the arrival of an English steamer at Halifax. Sometimes excitement was added to excitement caused by a man named Hiram Hyde who wagered he could carry the despatches between any two places in less time than Barnaby. Hyde operated a rival coach line. I distinctly recall numbers of people standing in the street waiting to catch a glimpse of the riders as they approached our village, and the eagerness to help change the saddle from tired to fresh horses while the riders walked about briskly to overcome the cramped feeling from hard riding. The riders were helped into the saddle and were off like a flash..."

John Ross kept the stable where Hyde's horses put up in the same village. Among those who rode the gruelling route, which bisected the province with the Queen's Mail from the Atlantic to the Fundy, were Mason and John Pineo, Corey O'Dell, Benjamin Chesley, Patrick Doyle, Thad Harris, and a lad by the name of Hamilton.

Thad Harris, son of the Hon. J.D. Harris of Kentville, was only twenty years old and some of the riders may have been younger. He died two years later in 1851. Corey O'Dell of Annapolis Royal has one grand-daughter, Mrs. Mary Marshall at 85 years of age, living at 780 Vernon Street, Halifax. Her grandfather died before she was born. No photos seem to have survived of the riders, at least not in the local museums, libraries and archives.

It is reported that one rider galloped from Halifax to Windsor (45 miles 72 km) in one hour and forty five minutes. On his four horses he averaged a mile every 2.33 minutes 41 km/h; that's horse flesh about out to its limit.

John Hall's letter continues: "There was almost as much excitement in the village over a race between the two expresses as there would be in a general election at the present time (circa 1912) and I assure you that the horses received every attention from their caretakers in order to win the applause of the public. In one race, the Barnaby horse was a fine chestnut, weighing 1,000 or 1,100 lbs. (pounds) 450 to 500 kg while the rival equine was a bay with a white stripe, and weighed 900 lbs. 410 kg.

Barnaby won easily and there was cheering at our stable. The time between Halifax and Victoria Beach was usually from 8 to 9 hours; but I cannot understand why the service was called a "Pony Express," as the finest horses were employed..."

There were many unscheduled adventures as the tough riders and foaming horses sped between Halifax and Digby. One story concerns a rider who was thrown from his horse at Avonport and was unable to continue. William B.T. Piers, a gentleman formerly of Halifax but then a resident of Avonport, a fine horseman, leaped to the saddle and rode through to Kentville with the precious mail bags.

One rider at night was puzzled as to why his horse had made a prodigious leap at Horton Landing. When he arrived at the next station he learned that the swing bridge had been left open due to repairs and the horse had covered the open eighteen-foot 5.5 m span in one giant jump.

The Associated Press spent $20,000 on the Pony Express during its nine months history. The service closed November 15th when the first telegraph office opened in Halifax on that date. The first dispatch (carried from Halifax by telegraph) was from the mail ship America. Mr. Gisborne, the telegraph operator, was three hours sending an abstract of the European news to Boston.

The telegraph key and the Morse code had replaced the thudding hoofs and the agile riders of the Pony Express.

At Victoria Beach in Annapolis County, a tablet-bearing cairn of stone stands as a mute memorial to the gallant riders and their spirited mounts who carried the mail one hundred and twenty-four years ago.

— End of Murrille Schofield's article —

Thanks to the Historic Restoration Society of Annapolis County
which provided a copy of the above article.




The following comments were written by Ivan Smith, 7 March 1999.

Note 1: Mr. Schofield wrote that the Pony Express "...galloped 144 miles from Halifax to Digby Gut in eight hours or so, once a fortnight with the news from England." Actually, the Associated Press Horse Express ran once a week. There was a two-week interval between the first run 21-22 February 1849, and the second run on 8 March 1849, but from then on the service ran once a week. The weekly schedule is clearly set out in Cunard's contract with the British Admiralty, which specified that Cunard was required to have a steamship depart from Liverpool each Saturday at noon, with a heavy financial penalty if there was any delay. The Halifax Express ran from Halifax to Victoria Beach immediately upon the arrival of each Cunard ship at Halifax. The time taken by the voyage across the North Atlantic varied from about nine to thirteen days depending on weather conditions, but the weekly departures from Liverpool meant that the Express also ran weekly (give or take a day or two).



Note 2: I'm doubtful about this: "Six newspapers in New York, later joined by the press of Boston and Philadelphia, established the Associated Press in Halifax. They hired Barnaby, manager of the Davidson Coach Line, to run their mail." I doubt that Barnaby was working for the Associated Press. Other sources report that Hyde worked in close association with Daniel Craig, who was the agent for the Associated Press, and that Barnaby worked for the competing speculators' group.

Note 3: I'm also doubtful about Mr. Schofield's statement "In Halifax, John T. Smith of Boston was agent for the Associated Press group while D.H. Craig represented the commercial people of New York." Other documentation, published in 1849 - 1852, consistently identifies Daniel Craig as the agent for the Associated Press. This other documentation includes several letters and pamphlets written by Craig himself, who signed his name followed by "Telegraph Agent N. Y. Associated Press" or a similar phrase. The Boston Daily Mail of January 26, 1850 refers to "Mr. Craig, the Agent of the Associated Press." We have a letter, published in 1850, to John T. Smith, written and signed by D.H. Craig, dated Halifax, December 14, 1849, in which Craig wrote: "I am now here as the agent of the New York Associated Press, a position which I have labored with my whole heart to fill in an acceptable manner, and in the faithful discharge of which, since last February... The committee of the New York Press see fit to confide their business to me..." Several other similar authoritative references exist in the contemporary records.

Mistaken Report


Note by ICS (written 13 March 2002):
I believe that Murille Schofield – while researching his above
article in 1973 – may have been misled by the following item, which
appeared in the Halifax Novascotian on March 12th, 1849:
The Novascotian
Halifax, Monday, March 12th, 1849
Nova Scotia Pony Express, Novascotian, Halifax, 12 March 1849
    RIVALRY — Mr. John T. Smith, of Boston,
who is engaged by the combined press of New
York, Philadelphia, Boston, and the South, in-
intends running an express between Halifax and
St. John, via Digby, on the arrival of the Cu-
nard steamers, and upon reaching this city the
news will be immediately telegraphed to its
destination. Mr. Craig, who is employed by
private individuals—speculators—runs his ex-
press on the same route in opposition. The
first named person has engaged the steamer
Conqueror, the other, the Commodore — Albi-
on.
This item has the facts badly muddled. Its description of what
D.H. Craig was doing closely matches what, in fact, J.T. Smith
was doing (employed by private individuals—speculators).

And its description of what J.T. Smith was doing closely
matches what, in fact, D.H. Craig was doing (engaged by the
combined press of New York and Boston).

At this very late date – 153 years after these events occurred –
we cannot question anyone who was there at the time. We cannot
even question the editor of the Novascotian about where he got
this information. All we can do is sift through the existing
historical record and try to figure out what really happened.

Numerous contemporary authoritative historical sources report
that Craig, not Smith, was working for the Associated Press.

One example: the New Brunswick Courier, 24 February 1849:
A little after eight o'clock on Thursday evening last, the steamer
Commodore, Capt. Brown, arrived from Digby Basin, bringing
Mr. Craig, an American gentleman, who had undertaken on behalf
of the Associated Press of Boston and New York to express the
news by the Steamer Europa, from Halifax to Saint John,
and thence by Electric Telegraph to Boston and New York...

Also, we have this description of the situation, signed by nine of the
most powerful and influential men in New York's newspaper business
of that time:
New York, January 24, 1850: — ...That the public may not be misled in
this matter, the Associated Press deem it proper to make the following
statement of facts ... About January 1849, the New York newspapers
Journal of Commerce, Courier and Enquirer, Herald, Sun, Tribune, and
Express, through their Committee, in an interview with Mr. L.R. Darrow,
the Superintendent of the new Saint John Electric Telegraph Line, then
nearly finished, arranged to run an express, on the arrival of each
Cunard Royal Mail steamer at Halifax, from that point to Saint John,
New Brunswick, the eastern terminus of the Telegraph at that time,
on condition of having the privilege of transmitting a despatch of
three thousand words to Boston and New York ... There were two
competitors for the agency; and the 'superior activity' of the man,
and the recommendation of two or three editors in Boston, in the
Association, induced us to employ Mr. Craig, the present agent...
(Signed)
      Gerard Hallock, New York Journal of Commerce
      Horace Greeley & Thomas McElrath, New York Tribune
      George H. Andrews, New York Courier & Enquirer
      Moses S. Beach and Alfred E. Beach, New York Sun
      James Brooks & Erastus Brooks, New York Express
      James Gordon Bennett, New York Herald
      New York, January 24, 1850

Another contemporary source, both authoritative and well informed,
is the book Historical Sketch of the Electric Telegraph, by
Alexander Jones, published by George E. Putnam, New York, in 1852.
Dr. Jones was the first general manager of the New York Associated
Press, and knew more about what went on in the early years of the AP
than anyone else. His book, on page 140, has this:
...The vexations endured by the Associated Press management in the
early days (1849-1850) were aggravated by dissentions which grew up
between the managers of some of the Morse telegraph lines and the
press. There were also contentions between the members of the press
in Boston and other places, fanned if not engendered by the jealousies
of some of the Morse lines, and especially by those under the control
of F.O.J. Smith (not to be confused with J.T.Smith). This gentleman
refused to have steamers' news come over his line from Halifax, for
the Associated Press, unless they dismissed Mr. Craig, then acting as
their Halifax agent. This led to a rupture, by which the press of Boston
became divided. The Association retained Mr. Craig, and ran a special
locomotive express at an enormous expense with each steamer's news,
from Portland to Boston, there being no telegraph between these two
points except that owned by Smith. From Boston it came over by the
Bain line to New York. The Association also, by its encouragement,
caused a company to extend the Bain line from Boston to Portland,
where it connected with the lines extending thence to Halifax, and
which were beyond the control of Smith. The war was a very fierce one;
many phamphlets appeared on both sides, including one by Mr. Craig
in his defence against Smith's charges. The latter left no stone
unturned. Among other efforts to thwart the Association, it is said
that he endeavored to get control of one of the links on the Halifax
line east of Portland. He also appealed to the Provincial Legislature
of New Brunswick, and protested against the management of the
Halifax line by its superintendent; but all without avail ...
At one time Smith refused to receive and transmit private messages
handed in by merchants and others for Halifax, or to let anything
come over his line from Halifax...

There are other contemporary reports which agree that Daniel
Craig organized and managed the Associated Press express of
1849. Except for the item above, I know of no source that supports
the notion that J.T. Smith was working for the Associated Press
in any important capacity.

I doubt that Mr. Schofield, working in Nova Scotia in
the early 1970s, had access to any of these three sources.



One is led to speculate where this erroneous report came from.

Was this just a case of a reporter getting his facts wrong (which
is not unheard-of in our time)?

Or is this something more? Maybe the Novascotian's item was the
result of calculated disinformation, put out by someone associated
with the speculators, perhaps to cloud Craig's reputation?
From the speculators' point of view, Craig was a nuisance who
insisted on ethical standards in the operation of his international
communications system, and this high standard seriously interfered
with the speculators' hopes of making a lot of money by getting
important information before it became available to the public.
If they could somehow destroy Craig's reputation and have him
replaced with a more compliant manager, they could quickly make
a lot of money.

I doubt we can answer these questions now. It is clear that the
Novascotian's editor in 1849 had no interest in Craig's express
service for New York newspapers. One example of this lack of
interest is the item in question – not written by someone in
Halifax, but simply copied from a distant newspaper.

When a report like this disagrees, in an important way, with
credible information published elsewhere about the 1849 express,
my view is that we should be cautious about how much weight
we give to the Halifax source.

ICS (March 2002)




Note 4: Mr. Schofield wrote: "Hiram Hyde guaranteed that the mail would go through 'as fast as horse flesh can do it and live.' " It was essential that these Associated Press news packets be carried as quickly as possible to their destination, while maintaining security and secrecy. The express couriers rode alone, often at night, on narrow roads not much more than trails, with few travellers, with parts of the route through isolated areas far from any habitation. In 1849, the Nova Scotia Pony Express was an essential link in the international communications system, often carrying news comparable to what, in the late twentieth century, would be classified by international television news companies as Breaking News, to be transmitted over hastily-arranged communications satellite channels. The competition was intense. More than once in 1849 — when negotiations between London and Washington were very tense and war between Great Britain and the United States was by no means unthinkable — news about an important British government decision — carried swiftly across Nova Scotia by Daniel Craig's express and telegraphed by the Associated Press from Saint John — was being sold on the streets of New York and Boston for a penny a copy, as much as 24 hours before the official message reached Washington by telegraph after the Cunard steamship arrived at its United States destination. Presidents James Polk (before 5 March 1849) and Zachary Taylor (after 5 March 1849) were not amused by such occurrences, but that didn't bother James Gordon Bennett or his newspaper competitors.

The Oregon Boundary Dispute


The Oregon Boundary Dispute was a hot topic during 1849. This dispute
has nothing to do with the Nova Scotia Pony Express story, except as
a vivid illustration of the importance of some of the information it carried.

In the 1844 United States Presidential Election,
the Democratic platform claimed the entire Oregon area,
from the California boundary northward to a latitude
of 54° 40', the southern boundary of Russian Alaska.
This claim included all of present-day British Columbia.

In 1849, the Oregon Boundary dispute remained unsettled.

In 1849, there was a serious threat of war between Great Britain and the
United States over the Oregon Boundary question.

The excerpts below are included here to enable the reader to get a feeling of
the serious nature of this dispute. Some of the mail bags carried by Cunard's
Royal mail Steamships in 1849, both westbound and eastbound, contained
highly confidential diplomatic messages between London and Washington,
conveying veiled threats of a most serious nature. George Mullane's article
about the 1849 situation uses direct language: "...international crisis..." and
"...England's ultimatum..." which accurately conveys the temper of the times.

More about the Oregon Boundary Dispute




Note 5:
Source: http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/provisionalguide/1849Map.html
Oregon State Archives
Guide to Provisional and Territorial Records, 1849 Map
Oregon was admitted as a U.S. territory on August 14, 1848. According to the 1849 census, there were 8903 white inhabitants of the territory. The Treaty with Great Britain in Regard to Limits Westward of the Rocky Mountains (1846), otherwise known as the U.S.-Great Britain Boundary Treaty of 1846, set the northern boundary of Oregon Territory at latitude 49°. The ten counties which now existed in Oregon still encompassed all of the area between latitudes 49° and 42° and west of the crest of the Rockies, an area of over 285,580 square miles about 740,000 square kilometres.



Note 6:
Source: http://www.semo.net/suburb/dlswoff/Bios/polk.html
America at War: American Military History
Revolutionary War to World War II
In his stand on Oregon, James Polk, President of the Unites States 4 March 1845 to 3 March 1849, seemed to be risking war with Great Britain. The 1844 Democratic platform claimed the entire Oregon area, from the California boundary northward to a latitude of 54° 40', the southern boundary of Russian Alaska. Extremists proclaimed "Fifty-four forty or fight," but Polk, aware of diplomatic realities, knew that no course short of war was likely to get all of Oregon. Happily, neither he nor the British wanted a war. He offered to settle by extending the Canadian boundary, along the 49th parallel, from the Rockies to the Pacific. When the British minister declined, Polk reasserted the American claim to the entire area. Finally, the British settled for the 49th parallel, except for the southern tip of Vancouver Island...



Note 7:
Source: http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/hstaa432/lesson_8/
Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest, Lesson 8
Settlement of the Oregon Boundary Question
The Pacific coast area in dispute, called the Oregon country, stretched from the crest of the Rockies in the east to the ocean in the west, and from the 42nd parallel in the south (today's California-Oregon border) to the parallel of 54 degrees, 40 minutes in the north (today's Alaska-British Columbia border)... Few Americans today pay much attention to the Oregon Treaty of 1846. The nation's acquisitions by war have seemed more dramatic, and even its acquisitions by purchase have seemed more memorable. The diplomatic negotiations that produced the treaty perhaps appear dull, as if the two sides finally just arrived at a fair compromise. Maybe there is a sense, too, that the U.S. did not take the far corner of the Pacific Northwest so much from another nation or people as it did from a company, the HBC, whose own operations were inhibiting American-style "development" of the region. It would be best, however, to keep in mind that in Canada, across the border that the Oregon Treaty extended in 1849, feelings are different. There, the Oregon Treaty is often remembered vividly as a loss, and one of many examples of American disrespect for Canadian borders and national integrity. Thus James R. Gibson, a Canadian geographer, writes in Farming the Frontier: The Agricultural Opening of the Oregon Country 1786-1846 (1985):
The Oregon Treaty was not a fair compromise; there was no division of the 'Oregon triangle' [the disputed lands in Washington state], all of which went to the United States....Canadians have valid reasons for regretting and even resenting the Oregon settlement, since the British claim to the territory north of the Columbia-Snake-Clearwater river system was at least as good as, if not better than, that of the United States on the grounds of discovery, exploration, and settlement, and since the future Canadian Dominion was deprived of any harbour on Puget Sound....Canadians should not forget that they were dispossessed of part of their rightful Columbia heritage, a heritage whose economic potential in general and agricultural possibilities in particular were initially and successfully demonstrated by the Hudson's Bay Company. They should also remember that whenever it is tritely declared that Canada and the United States share the longest undefended border in the world, it is so mainly because the stronger American republic won its northern boundary disputes at the expense of its weaker neighbour, just as it southern boundary was gained at the expense of a weaker Mexico.

Gibson's interpretation reflects a longstanding and pervasive Canadian concern about the sheer power of the United States as well as an accurate memory of the many threats that Americans have posed to the integrity of Canadian borders and Canadian national identity. I would, however, add one caveat to Gibson's formulation. When the Oregon Treaty was signed, the Confederation of Canada did not exist; America's northern neighbor was not a nation, but rather several British colonies. When the U.S. negotiated the Oregon Treaty, it did so with Great Britain, not Canada, so it is logical to keep Britain's participation in the treaty in mind (there was as of yet no official Canadian participation in diplomacy). Canadian views of this British participation hint at different kinds of weakness in the face of American strength. Gibson, for example, refers to a British mood of "appeasement" in yielding western Washington to the U.S., while another Canadian scholar (John Saywell, Canada: Pathways to the Present [1994]), recalls not only American aggression but also British carelessness in giving "what is now Washington and Oregon to the United States." American interpretations, by contrast, do not portray Britain as weak, and thus do not tend to see the Oregon Treaty as a deal struck with a "weaker neighbour." Quite the contrary, in fact. In explaining President Polk's decision to accept the 49th parallel as the boundary, Robert H. Ferrell, in American Diplomacy: A History (1975), writes that Polk "had given in to Great Britain [rather than standing up for more territory]. It was one thing to press territorial claims against a nation such as Mexico, and quite another to stand up to the most powerful nation in the world, as Britain was during the nineteenth century."

Canadians and Americans tend to recall the Oregon Treaty in distinctly different ways. In this case and in virtually every other, how one interprets the past depends in large part upon where one is viewing it from.



More About the
Nova Scotia Pony Express

The 1849 Nova Scotia Pony Express
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyexdx.html


Photographs of the Nova Scotia Pony Express monument
    http://ns1763.ca/annapco/ponyexmon.html


Pony Express Monument Unveiled, Halifax Chronicle-Herald 27 Aug 1953
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex12.html


The Pony Express Plaque Installed in 1949 100th Anniversary
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex04.html


Halifax Express The Novascotian, 26 February 1849
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex66.html


Halifax Express The British Colonist, 10 March 1849
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex67.html


Halifax Express The Acadian Recorder, 10 March 1849
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex68.html


The Second Run of the Nova Scotia Pony Express 8 March 1849
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex09.html


Nova Scotia Pony Express 1849, by John Regan 5 January 1912
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex01.html


Nova Scotia Pony Express 1849, by George Mullane 1 Jan 1914
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex02.html


Nova Scotia Pony Express, by D. A. MacNeill April 1940
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex16.html


Nova Scotia Pony Express, by CBC Radio 11 June 1999
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex20.html


The Cunard Steamship fleet, 1849
These ships brought the news carried by the Pony Express
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex13.html


Burket's Exchange News Room Halifax 1848-1849
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex17.html


Pony Express Editorial, Halifax Chronicle-Herald 15 Feb 1999
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex06.html


Radio Station X1J1F Victoria Beach, Nova Scotia, 1999
set up in recognition of the 150th anniversary
of the 1849 Nova Scotia Pony Express
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex11.html


The Oregon Boundary dispute, 1849
Britain and USA close to war – the Nova Scotia Pony Express
was the fastest link carrying breaking news to U.S.A.
    http://ns1763.ca/ponyexpress/ponyex19.html





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