Utah Westerners

Pat Hearty in the news

June 7, 2010 at 8:26 am kenttschanz Leave a comment

A Salt Lake Tribune article highlights Westerner Pat Hearty’s involvement in the Pony Express re-ride taking place right now.  Pat is president of the National Pony Express Association (!)  Here’s the link to the whole story (while the Trib maintains it)  http://www.sltrib.com/outdoors/ci_15229291

And here’s the story’s first couple of paragraphs:

Pat Hearty experienced his “Pony Express moment” at 3 a.m. on a dark and empty west desert night as he rode his big sorrel horse west from Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge.

“There was not a man-made structure or a light,” he recalled about participating in a Pony Express re-ride. “Chills ran up and down my back. It must have been just like this. It was kind of an epiphany, a direct connection to 1860.”

Hearty is the Utah president of the National Pony Express Association. Like hundreds of other riders, he will be participating in the 150th anniversary Pony Express Re-Ride beginning today through June 26….

Hearty will be among the 600 riders and 1,200 volunteers scheduled to participate as they transport commemorative letters and personal mail. Each rider participating will take the Pony Express Oath and receive a commemorative Bible.

He said annual re-rides such as

this one help connect riders with the history and importance of the Pony Express.

“Our purpose is to keep this in the public eye and tell about how these riders and station people helped build the life we enjoy,” said Hearty. “It is that connection with history that grounds us in our lives. It gives us a sense of time and place.”

The re-ride is scheduled to come into Utah around 5 p.m. from Nevada on June 12. There will be a potluck dinner, food and entertainment at a party at Willow Springs near Callao that night.

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