US Military Posts named for Confederate generals

[Bill Richter]

Laurie,

I will not argue that camels did not carry the mail but they were not part of the pony express which specialized in rapid mail service written on light copy paper and delivered in a speedy trip across the great plains. This was an outfit under Russell, Majors, and Waddell. But then Congress never really knows where its money goes nowadays nor in the past. And those not in the know would be more prone to vote for pony express needs instead of camels. The real clincher is that the pony express last only a year or so around 1860, not 1855. Isaac Surrratt had a good chance to see camel mail because he rode between Santa Fe and El Paso, as I understand it. The problem he faced was delivery of the mail not speed and delivery.

Also in another thread everyone thinks that camels would not spook a horse or mule. True, if the horse or mule were raised with camels from birth. But you have not lived until you have seen a string of horses or mules go nuts over a blowing piece of paper or a gum wrapper. I knew one mule who would not cross a body of water (small stream or even a puddle) without throwing a fit

I used to shoe one animal that watched the mailman deliver each house as he came up the hill to where we were getting more and more nervous as the mail carrier approached. Finally when the mail came to a couple of houses away I had to pause until he started back down the hill again lest the horse pull his foot out of my lap with nails sticking out of it, slicing my apron and legs along the way.

Many westerners take a horse along when hunting because they will snort and get nervous when a deer or elk is around way before the hunter sees the game. As we farriers used to say, "It's the animal you trust who will injure you."