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"Charlie" Parks was one of the 80 pony express riders who served Salt Lake
City during the early 60's. Many of the old-time residents of this city
recall the name well but as Parks was on the Salt Lake division only for a short time, he
is not so well remembered as some of the other lightening mail carrying heroes of those
days. Captain Thomas Dobson of Centerville says he recalls the fact that Parks was
regarded as one of the most capable and faithful men of the western division.. Parks
work was chiefly performed in Nevada and California, where he became famous for his daring
courage and loyalty. A Famous
Mail Service
The death of Parks
brings to mind the stirring times when the pony express was the swiftest of all things in
these regions. The first of the riders to reach Salt Lake City arrived here on April
7, 1860: he carried mail four days old from Sacramento. The first mail from
the east by pony express come on April 9: the service was inaugurated on April 3
simultaneously at Sacramento an St. Joseph.
Between St. Joseph and Sacramento eighty riders were constantly on the road, forty going
in one direction and forty in the other. The 1,900 miles were covered in eight days,
or at the rate of 250 miles per day. The stage coaches covered the distance in from
fifteen to sixteen days, making between 100 and 125 miles per day. The pony express
service had 400 of the swiftest horses obtainable continuously at work.
Tribute to the Riders
Samuel L. Clemens
(Mark Twain) pays a deserved tribute to the pony express riders in his delightful work on
western life and the scenes in the days of the pioneers. "Roughing
It." He writes: "Think of that for perishable horse and human flesh
to do. The pony rider was usually a little bit of a man brim full of spirit and
endurance. No matter what time of day his watch came and not matter whether winter
or summer, raining, snowing, hailing or sleeting, or whether his 'beat' was a level,
straight road or a crazy trail over mountain crags and precise or whether it lead through
peaceful regions or regions that swarmed with hostile Indians, he must be always ready to
leap into the saddle and be off like the wind. There was no idling for a pony
express rider on duty. He rode fifty miles without stopping, by daylight, moonlight,
starlight, or through the blackness of darkness -- just as it happened. He rode a
splendid horse that was born for a racer and fed and lodged like a gentleman: kept
him at his utmost speed for ten miles, and then, as he came crashing up a station where
stood two men holding fast a fresh, impatient steed, the transfer of the rider and the
mail bag was made in the twinkling of an eye and away flew the eager pair were out of
sight before the spectator could hardly get a ghost of a look.
No Unnecessary Weight
"Both the
rider and the horse went 'flying light'. The riders dress was thin and fitted
close: he wore a 'roundabout' and a skull cap and tucked his pantaloons into his
boots like a race rider. He carried no arms -- he carried nothing that was not
absolutely necessary, for even the postage on his literary freight was worth $5 a
letter. He got but little frivolous correspondence to carry -- hi bag had
mostly business letters in it. His horse was stripped of unnecessary weight
too. He wore a little wafer of a racing saddle and no visible blanket. He wore
light shoes or none at all. The little flat mail pockets strapped under the riders
thighs would each hold about the bulk of a child's primer. There they held many and
many an important business chapter and newspaper letter, but these were written on paper
as airy and thin as gold leaf nearly and thus bulk and weight were economized.
Past Like the Wind
In
another part of his description Mr. Clemens tells of the anxiety with which a stage coach
full of people awaited the coming of the pony express rider. At the cry of
"Here he comes" the writer says, every neck is stretched further and every
eye strained wider. Away across the the endless dead level of the prairie a black
speck appears against the sky and it is plain that it moves. Well I should think so,
in a second or two it becomes a horse and a rider, rising and falling, rising and falling
-- sweeping towards us nearer and nearer -- growing more and more distinct -- more and
more sharply defined -- nearer and still nearer, and the flutter of hoofs comes faintly to
the ear -- another instance and a whoop and hurrah from our upper deck, a wave of the
riders hand but no reply, and man and horse burst past our excited faces and go winging
away in a belated fragment of a storm.
"So sudden is it all and so
like a flash of unreal fancy but for the flake of white foam left quivering and perishing
on a mail sack after the vision had flashed by and disappeared, we might have doubted that
we had seen any actual horse and man at all, maybe."
First News for Salt Lake
The first pony
express rider from the east brought to Salt Lake City news of alarming and momentous
import. He carried the announcement of the intended introduction in the federal
senate of a bill removing the seat of government from this city and establishing it at
Carson Valley; furthermore changing the name of the "Territory of Utah" to
that of the "Territory of Nevada".
The pony express
riders carried the rumor's of war and the internecine strife that followed. Their
coming, it can be easily imagined, was eagerly awaited each day.
A Shotgun Messenger
Parks, after the
abandonment of the pony express entered the employ of Wells-Fargo Express company in the
capacity of a "shotgun messenger". It was the duty of
these messengers to guard the treasures that were contained in the iron boxes in the boot
of the coach, his seat beside the driver and his "sawed-off" weapon ever ready
for use. In his encounters with road agents who abounded in the early days of placer
mining in California, Parks won undying fame as a defender of the trust over which he
watched. It is said that he carried to his grave more than a score of bullet wounds
in token of the fact that he had done his duty well. |
