Neither rain, nor sleet, nor dark of night could keep Pony Express riders from their appointed rounds, so the story goes. But a deadly horse virus is another matter.
For the first time in its 32-year history, the National Pony Express Association is postponing its annual reenactment of the famous ride from St. Joseph, Mo., to Sacramento this summer due to an outbreak of the equine herpes virus EHV-1.
The 10-day ride is being pushed from June to August.
"It is kind of ironic," Jim Swigart, the group's president, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "All these things they dealt with in the 1860s we still deal with on the re-ride today — hard rains, floods, all the natural disasters Mother Nature can throw at you.
"But here with this virus scare, it's really a no-brainer. It had to be done. The consensus is, it isn't worth the risk," he said.
The highly contagious virus poses no risk to humans but has been blamed for the deaths of at least 12 horses since the outbreak began in early May at a cutting horse competition in Ogden, Utah. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed 75 cases in nine Western states, including three on the Pony Express trail: Utah, Nevada and California.
Since 1979, about 1,000 volunteers and more than 600 horses have been re-enacting the 1,966-mile ride that also passes through parts of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming in relay fashion.
This year's ride originally was set to take place June 8-18.
Organizers are banking on the likelihood the virus will have run its course by the time the rescheduled dates come around. Riders will leave St. Joseph on Aug. 17 and arrive in Sacramento on Aug. 27 with letters in their leather mail pouches purchased by trail enthusiasts celebrating its 151st anniversary.
"Those letters will be delayed, but they are going to be delivered," Swigart said. "That's the important part."
National group leaders scrambled over the Memorial Day weekend to poll state officers on whether they thought the ride should continue in June.
"It's just too bad," said Utah division president Mark Jenkins, who lives in South Salt Lake City. "Jim was in a tough spot and had to make a tough decision."
Gary Nezos, president of the Nevada division, said some riders in his state had raised concerns about the virus.
"I think the chances of being exposed were minimal, but if there was an even a slight chance we could spread it, we thought it made sense to err on the side of safety," Nezos said.
Cases of the virus have been confirmed in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, as well as Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington, USDA officials said.
Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management asked horse owners to keep their animals off federal lands if there was any possibility they'd been exposed to the virus.
Horse events have been canceled in a number of states, but others are going ahead as scheduled, including the College National Finals Rodeo scheduled June 11-18 in Casper, Wyo., and the Reno Rodeo June 16-25.
The Pony Express operated for less than two years, from April 3, 1860, to late 1861. Riders switched to fresh horses every 10 to 15 miles, handing off to a new rider every 75 miles or so to complete the route.
The route west out of St. Joseph mostly followed the Oregon Trail from Kansas through what is now Nebraska and Wyoming. From there, it largely followed what is now U.S. Interstate 80 into Utah before veering south toward U.S. Highway 50 into Nevada and on to Sacramento.
In Nevada, the trail passes through the property of the Moonlite Bunnyranch, a legal brothel where the local chapter of a historical society placed a marker and plaque in recognition of the route in 2002.
"If the Bunnyranch had been here on the Pony Express Trail 150 years ago," brothel owner Dennis Hof said at the dedication, "it would probably have added a day or two to the trip."
Swigart got involved with the reenactment after moving from the San Francisco Bay area to Pollock Pines, Calif., on the western front of the Sierra Nevada in 1990.
"After doing one of those rides in the mountains at night through the Sierra, I have a great deal of respect for those guys," Swigart told the AP. "It comes very close, not exactly, but very close to what they felt. It's very exciting."