Pony Express riders crossing Utah

The Pony Express riders were crossing Utah on Tuesday and should be spotted along Highway 50 East in Carson City around 6 a.m. Thursday.

Riders are to hand off the mochila at Third and Curry streets and again at Fuji Park. The original relay station for the Pony Express in Carson City was located in between Fourth and Fifth streets.

The first of more than 500 riders left St. Joseph, Mo., at 10 a.m. June 9 on the way to deliver the mail to Sacramento by Friday.

You can watch the progress of the riders via GPS tracking at http://ponyex

pressnationaltracking.com/RiderTracking.html.

The route between the Missouri and Sacramento rivers covers the Pony Express National Historic Trail, a distance of 1,966 miles.

The trail crosses eight states - Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada to California's central valley.

The 10-day, 24-hour-a-day event will commemorate the 149th anniversary of the founding of the Pony Express and is the 30th re-creation of the event organized by the National Pony Express Association.

Started in 1860 by Russell, Majors, and Waddell, a Missouri freighting firm, the Pony Express carried letters and telegrams for a year on the Central Route to prove it passable and win a proposed federal mail contract.

The route from San Francisco to St. Joseph is now part of the National Trails System and administered by the National Park Service.

More than 500 riders and horses will be stationed at intervals to relay a mochila filled with personal mail and commemorative letters. The mochila, a leather pouch, is similar to the ones used by the Pony Express.

The Sierra Intermountain Emergency Radio Association will host a hotline, 246-3756, Monday through Thursday where you can hear a recorded report by mobile radio teams in Nevada.