The MacNeil’s Last Monument — “in Miniature”

See a “Pony Express” in miniature below

Saint Joseph, Missouri was the starting point for the Pony Express.
From April 1860 to October 1861, the Pony Express delivered mail westward to Sacramento California.

The Pony Express

More than 1,800 miles in 10 days! From St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California the Pony Express could deliver a letter faster than ever before.
In operation for only 18 months between April 1860 and October 1861, the Pony Express nevertheless has become synonymous with the Old West. In the era before electronic communication, the Pony Express was the thread that tied East to West.

SOURCE: [ https://www.nps.gov/poex/learn/historyculture/index.htm ] as of June 8, 2019

MacNeil’s “The Pony Express” at Saint Joseph, Missouri

Today, Hermon Atkins MacNeil’s last public monument, sculpted in 1940, commemorates that brief history of westward expansion.

A blackened bronze Pony Express rider with a bandanna over his face heads west over the dusty trail to the next station. What awaits him there will be another fast pony ready for the rider and his bag of mail to hop into the saddle. Thus, the next leg of the continuous trek across the prairies, rivers, plains, foothills and mountainside goes westward.

A bronze miniature of this sculpture has been obtained recently.  The piece was originally cast in 1940 by the Jennings Brothers Manufacturing Company of Bridgeport, Conn. The seller notes: 

Replica miniature Statue copyrighted by HAMN in 1940.

“Never cleaned in original condition. No damage or repairs, Never molested never used as a book end!!! the statue is approx 5 1/2″ in width and approx 6″ in height.”

Tag on bottom of the statuette identifies it.