"Per Pony Express from San Francisco, May 11th, 1860." Manuscript sender's endorsement on cover addressed to Rev. Thomas B. Fox, Office of the Christian Examiner, Boston, Mass., 3c Dull Red, Ty. III (26) tied by "New-York May 25, 1860" circular datestamp, with one page of original enclosure datelined "By Pony Express, San Francisco, Friday morning, May 11, 1860" with pithy comments about life in California, including this reference to the pony express: "I send you a word of greeting through the Rocky Mountains. Is not the pony express a right down California institution -- snorting through the passes of the Rocky Mountains at a rate that beats the steamer eight days clean in getting letters through to New York & Boston. Prices are moderate -- $5 a letter: Cheap for the luxury of writing to you..."; also mentions "Walker's filibustering generals" and remarks that San Francisco has burned down four times, stamp has trivial corner crease and faint stain

VERY FINE. A RARE EXAMPLE OF AN "INTERIOR" PONY EXPRESS COVER, CARRIED IN A FRANKED ENTIRE TO NEW YORK CITY AND MAILED FROM THERE WITH A 3-CENT 1857 STAMP. THIS COVER CROSSED NEVADA AS LOCAL MILITIA UNDER THE COMMAND OF MAJOR WILLIAM ORMSBY WERE WIPED OUT BY PAIUTE INDIANS IN THE FIRST BATTLE OF PYRAMID LAKE ON MAY 12, 1860.

This cover was carried on the eastbound Pony Express trip that departed San Francisco on Friday, May 11, 1860. This express passed through Carson City in Nevada on May 12, the same day that Major William Ormsby's army was annihilated at the First Battle of Pyramid Lake. The San Francisco Bulletin (June 13, 1860) published the following report from St. Louis, dated May 24, confirming the arrival of the May 11 express ten days later on May 21: "The Pony Express which left San Francisco May 11th, arrived on the 21st. A rider was killed by the Indians on the California end. Mail and dispatches saved."

The cover offered here is the only one recorded for this May 11 trip (FKW Census E4A). It has the sender’s directive to go by the May 11 Pony Express from San Francisco, but no express markings. It was carried inside another envelope, reached St. Joseph on May 21, and after it was carried to New York City, this interior envelope was mailed and postmarked on May 25.

Information about the addressee, Reverend Thomas B. Fox, may be found at http://www.frsuu.org/serm45.htm

FKW Census E4A. Ex Pearce, Jessup, Piller and Lyons. 1990 P.F. certificate no longer accompanies.

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