Pioneer: 2010 Vol.57 No.2

of a red shirt, blue jeans, and high-top boots. It seems logical,
however, that, especially in the more remote parts of
the West, they wore buckskins, homespun, or whatever
was at hand and appropriate for the season and weather.
Fancier attire may have been reserved for the towns and
situations where the young riders might have liked to
show off a little. At the outset of the mail service, riders
were apparently outfitted with a pair of revolvers, a light
rifle, and a horn to announce their arrival at the stations.
It soon became apparent that this heavy armament was
cumbersome and unnecessary and that the station keepers
were well aware of their coming without the blowing of a
horn. After discarding the extra trappings, they rode
armed with a single revolver, most often an 1851 model
.36 caliber navy Colt. Some historians have written that
they also carried an extra loaded cylinder for the pistol,
but changing cylinders on the back of a galloping horse
would have been quite a trick.
Alexander Majors, one of the founders, was a deeply
religious man. He required each of his employees, Pony
Express riders included, to take an oath not to drink intoxicating
liquor, swear, abuse their livestock, or fight
2010 Vol. 57, No.2 PIONEER 7
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