Poetry
Of The
And
Other Frontier Experiences
By
Dave
Rhodes
MOST
OF MY POEMS are based on the true-life experiences of my great-grandfather, Howard Ransom Egan, his brother, Richard Erastus Egan, and their father, Major Howard Egan.
All three of
these men were involved in the Pony Express. Major Howard Egan was the
superintendent of the line between Salt
Lake City and Roberts Creek, Nevada. He was the
first rider to bring the mail by Pony Express to Salt Lake City. Before the Pony
Express he was responsible for establishing the mail route between Salt Lake
and California.
Howard Ransom and Richard Erastus were involved in transporting the mail by
stage, and the Pony Express when it came along. At the age of 16
Howard was the first person to drive the mail stage from Salt Lake
to California.
Richard was well known for his riding skill and his fast horse, Miss
Lightning.
Several poems (Out Here at Butte Station, We're The Riders, Reaching
Their Peak) attempt to capture the flavor of Pony Express life in
general rather than an individual experience. Although it was not, Out
Here at Butte Station could easily have been written about Bid Boyd who
was a keeper at Butte Station (also called Desert Station and now known as
Boyd Station) who continued to live at the location many years after the
Pony Express. A number of poems, however, are about specific events
and people. For example, Bucking Bally describes the fate of
the substitute rider for Richard Erastus Egan; Take Me Back To Tullamore
tries to express the feelings of Major Howard Egan, alone on the vast
desert, as he was trying to establish the mail route to California; and The
Indian, No Legs contains many of the actual sentences written by Howard
Ransom Egan as he described an encounter in the western Utah desert.
A few
other poems have nothing to do with the Pony Express or frontier life. The
inspiration for The Musical Horse came to me while visiting a ranch
where a particular horse gave new meaning to the word, "musical."
If
there was one objective of my poetry it would be to express the true
feelings of the men and boys of the Pony Express and the early western
pioneers, while avoiding the clichés and generalities sometimes used to
describe the early western life and people.
Dave
Rhodes
