Pony Express riders raced nearly 1900 miles of wilderness carrying the U.S. Mail between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, pushing horse and rider over mountains, across dry deserts, and through rivers and streams in winter cold, summer heat, and constant danger to achieve a delivery record unsurpassed in the early 1860s. The Pony Express quickly became a legend in American hearts as a race against time and a test of extreme endurance. Avard Fairbanks’ Pony Express Monument captures this moment in history through contrasts that symbolize interdependence across generations and between man and beast, showing the fresh horse against the spent horse, the youthful rider charging off against the solid old station keeper who has the horse ready and bids Godspeed as the rider gallops away.