Seneca Pony Express Museum

09/23/2026

We are closed for the season, but hope you don't mind posts every now & then as we catch up on some history.

09/20/2026

The museum is officially closed for the season. If you are from out of town or have guests visiting, call or text Carol @ 785-658-6118 to request a tour.

We will be open the Saturday of Seneca's Octoberfest & The Festival of Trees in November.

Thank you to all who came out for the Highway 36 Treasure Hunt & supporting the museum. We did our best to inquire where people were from. We had buyers from Chattanooga, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, upper parts of Nebraska & many Kansas southern neighbors.

We heard people happily had trouble getting their car doors to close with all the treasures they accumulated along our Kansas Hwy 36.

09/10/2026

We have tables set up for the Treasure Hunt next week & everything is marked ready to go!

This week, Thurs, Fri, Sat 9am-12 noon....Come check out that covered wagon, soak up some 1860 history and while you are here if you see a treasured piece or few on the table and absolutely must have it, we will accommodate.

08/31/2026

●●●Fall hours change!●●●

OPEN...Thurs-Fri-Sat 9am-12pm.

We will participate in The Highway 36 Treasure Hunt Sept.16, 17, 18 (Wed-Thurs-Fri) We will use the remaining Sept hours to set up inside.

We will close Sept 18th for the season.

If you wish to donate items to the museum, we will have the back garage door lifted open our remaining Sept hours for easy car trunk/pickup tail height. Just slide in your donations and go, if you wish.

As always, if you wish to visit the museum or have questions about donating items, call or text Carol @785-658-6118.

We will announce a couple opening days later in October & November, joining up with other events in town.

08/26/2026

Hiring Pony Express Riders came with exerpts from a speech in the western division office of Sacramento in year 1860:

"The Pony Express is vital, news is more important than ever, we must keep the lines open."

"You men will carry the fate of the nation."

"Yes, the nation."

"This will be no picnic. You will travel the roughest country the Lord ever made. You will be cold and hungry and dried out with heat & thirst and saddle-sore."

"You must go on if there is no relief. We are not holding cards up our sleeves. You may die or be killed."

"Now take it or leave it."

After a doctor examined the prospective riders, many were weeded out due to past frozen hands or feet, a touch of too much sun, rheumatism, malaria, or suspicious cough. Some had never learned to read or write.

Those were dismissed with good will and told, "I think more of you than less for still applying for the job."

"Grub?" Asked a young man needing the job for food.

"The best money can buy. Bacon, beans, biscuits, hominy & cheese if you want it. We can put some weight on those bones of yours."

"This isn't a job I would advise my own son to take, if I had one." The company stands with the hired with our last dollar and last bullet."

08/21/2026

Mochila: "moe-cheee-la"

The Spanish word for ruck-sack made it easy to throw the mail from one Pony Express horse in Seneca, Kansas on the dirt main street onto an awaiting fresh horse & rider without removing the saddle in their 2 minute exchange in 1860.

Many years prior, in 1844, a man named Israel Landis started "The Big Saddle" company in St.Joseph, Missouri. He took on the task of making the mochilas for the Pony Express.

He hired emigrants to keep up with the gold rush of the '49ers in his 3 buildings who wintered in the town.

Israel Landis was a well-knowm character in town and far beyond. He had a sense of humor and sometimes put written poems in his packages for shipments.

In front of his office building he had a large wooden frame which he inserted a poem of self promotion.

Everyone made it a point to stop by to see what was new on the "Big Saddle Poetry sign."

A sample of his poetry:

"If a good saddle you would find,
One that's just suited to your mind,
You need not to St. Louis go,
For you can get one in St.Joe."

Israel Landis, instead of advertising to sell his saddles, he purchased space in a local St. Joseph newspaper for his poetry, which also made his saddles famous.

His bits of doggerel poetry was famous all the way to California.

08/19/2026

Our Kansas Pony Express Members are saddened to hear the loss of Connie, a Marysville, KS native & a Pony Express dedicated rider who helped move the mail west to & from the Nebraska line for years during the re-rides.

More in comments.
(National Pony Express )

View Connie Heidebrecht's obituary, send flowers, find service dates, and sign the guestbook.

08/13/2026

When these out-of-town gals walked into the museum, the sunshine and fun just followed right in with them. Thanks for the visit!

Traded the back to school pics for a bucket list pic. These girls let the real adventures begin when they took a day trip to Seneca! From lunch Cornerstone Coffeehaus to museums Seneca Pony Express Museum and shopping Picture This On Main with sweet treats sweetpeabakery they had a FULL DAY of F-U-N🩷

08/12/2026

●A Baby shoe.

The Seneca Smith Hotel was built in 1858 and became the Pony Express Home Station #1 in 1860-1861.

The hotel was lifted prior to year 1915 and moved northwest a couple blocks & resettled. It fell into ruins and was torn down in year 1972.
......A baby shoe was found.

More in comment section.

08/01/2026

When a Pony Express Rider, in 1860, fell sick or injured while riding in the saddle at 12.5 mph for 9-10 hours he was always confident that each station was equipped with medicine.

Waddell, Russell & Majors spared no expense to supply their stage stations with the important cures a Pony Express Rider may need.

They had the best known medicines for man & beast:

●Copperas: iron sulfate applied to the skin to clean wounds or for weeping sores to harden tissue.

●Alum: to clot blood or induce vomiting. Spasm tonic or mouthwash for ulcers.

●Borax: an all cure tonic for digestive issues & skin problems.

●Turpintine: stimulant to kill intestinal worms.

●Caster Oil: Strong laxative to clear the bowels & a skin salve. In emergencies to grease wagon wheels and power lamps.

Store bought tonics offered cures for indigestion & depression which some contained o***m, morphine or alcohol. Most of these medicines & tonics did more harm than good.

Getting to a doctor did not always have a positive outcome, whether it was a gunshot, arrow puncture, snake bites, cuts & etc. Surgeons still wiped surgical instruments between patients on a common rag or against their clothes.

It would take 5 years before Joseph Lister (Listerine) introduced the idea of washing hands, disinfectanting surgical tools & using clean towels.