I recently published an article in the Overland Journal. The article is in two parts and appears in the journal’s 2023 Summer and Fall issues (Vol. 41, Numbers 2 and 3). The journal is free to members of the Oregon-California Trails Association. Individual issues are available to be purchased, but at the time of this post, the issues aren’t yet posted in the online store. I’ll update this if the situation changes.
The article is adapted from my book, On the Pony Express Trail. The editor of the book wanted to make it readily accessible to a general reader, which meant I had to forego footnotes. I had 1,800, so yeah, maybe I went overboard. The article in the OJ, which includes appropriate footnotes, focuses specifically on the history and lore of the Pony Express. The title, “Nuggets of Truth,” refers to the few nuggets of truth about the service that lie buried under the tailings piles of myths of the Pony Express. It is an unvarnished look at the historical Pony Express, which is quite different from the fairy tale version that appears in most accounts.