Anthony Godfrey, Historic Resource Study of the Pony Express National Historic Trail (United States Department of the Interior/National Park Service 1994)
At a certain point in conducting research on the history of the Pony Express, the narratives seem to run together, in the sense that to a large extent, there is only so much information available and every author repeats it with more or less detail than every other author writing about the Pony Express. The facts are the same, the chronological narrative the same. The differences are largely (1) which facts the author chooses to emphasize, and (2) how well they tell the story.
Godfrey wrote this Historic Resource Study (HRS) for the National Park Service (NPS) for the Pony Express National Historic Trail is to provide basic information to assist the preparation of the trail comprehensive management plan and to manage and interpret the trail. It includes a summary history of the Pony Express, followed by extensive notes on 184 “potential” Pony Express sites.
The summary history is well written: shorter than most, but well-researched, and to that extent, worth reading. The real contribution of this work over others is the extensive reports on the 184 stations. This author goes into more detail about each than any other work I’ve come across so far. If I decide to include any station information in my Quick Facts, this would be the source.
The book is downloadable in multiple formats from the Internet Archive.