From Voices of the Sandhills, Vol. 56, Spring 2005:
"Charley Nolin never finished his last Pony Express ride
In 1876, Rapid City and Deadwood were just fledgling cities. It was that year that Charley Nolin was retiring from the United States Mail Service. He was making his last Pony Express ride from Sidney, Nebraska to Rapid City and Deadwood in Dakota Territory. This would be his final ride before retirement.
In those days the Indians were known to be hostile to the white man, especially to the lone rider. It was the pony express's policy to carry the mail under the cover of darkness and rest during the daylight hours, as the daylight hours would find the warriors scouting the countryside.
When Nolin reached Rapid City he ran across some freighters, as it was daylight, and he decided to ignore the practice of riding only at night and would string along with them as they made their way on into the Black Hills.
He learned that these freighters were a part of Schofields Freighting Outfit. He struck up a conversation as they traveled along and he led them to understand that this was going to be his last trip, as he was going to return to his home.
When he reached the hill that is just southeast of the town that is now know as Sturgis, South Dakota, he bid the freighters farewell. He started off to Deadwood saying that he could make a fast ride and would be in Deadwood by evening. However, he had not gone more than a mile when he ran across some Indians that were behind the bank of the small creek that he had to pass.
Before he knew what had happened, they had fired three bullets into his body and sent the pony express rider to his death. The Indians then went to his body and cut three scalps from the dead man's head. They then stripped him of his revolver and rifle and scattered the contents of his mail bag across the prairie. They also stole his saddle and pony.
The freighters he had just left heard the shots and went to investigate. They found the young pony express rider dead alongside the road. They took the lifeless body and buried it along the roadside near the spot where he fell. It rested there until 1880 when some citizens of Sturgis reinterred it at Bear Butte Cemetery.
The place where he was shot along the creek is today known as Dead Man's Creek and the gulch in which it flows is known as Dead Man's Gulch."
Contributor: Stone Gardner (47698206)
"Charley Nolin never finished his last Pony Express ride
In 1876, Rapid City and Deadwood were just fledgling cities. It was that year that Charley Nolin was retiring from the United States Mail Service. He was making his last Pony Express ride from Sidney, Nebraska to Rapid City and Deadwood in Dakota Territory. This would be his final ride before retirement.
In those days the Indians were known to be hostile to the white man, especially to the lone rider. It was the pony express's policy to carry the mail under the cover of darkness and rest during the daylight hours, as the daylight hours would find the warriors scouting the countryside.
When Nolin reached Rapid City he ran across some freighters, as it was daylight, and he decided to ignore the practice of riding only at night and would string along with them as they made their way on into the Black Hills.
He learned that these freighters were a part of Schofields Freighting Outfit. He struck up a conversation as they traveled along and he led them to understand that this was going to be his last trip, as he was going to return to his home.
When he reached the hill that is just southeast of the town that is now know as Sturgis, South Dakota, he bid the freighters farewell. He started off to Deadwood saying that he could make a fast ride and would be in Deadwood by evening. However, he had not gone more than a mile when he ran across some Indians that were behind the bank of the small creek that he had to pass.
Before he knew what had happened, they had fired three bullets into his body and sent the pony express rider to his death. The Indians then went to his body and cut three scalps from the dead man's head. They then stripped him of his revolver and rifle and scattered the contents of his mail bag across the prairie. They also stole his saddle and pony.
The freighters he had just left heard the shots and went to investigate. They found the young pony express rider dead alongside the road. They took the lifeless body and buried it along the roadside near the spot where he fell. It rested there until 1880 when some citizens of Sturgis reinterred it at Bear Butte Cemetery.
The place where he was shot along the creek is today known as Dead Man's Creek and the gulch in which it flows is known as Dead Man's Gulch."
Contributor: Stone Gardner (47698206)
From Voices of the Sandhills, Vol. 56, Spring 2005:
"Charley Nolin never finished his last Pony Express ride
In 1876, Rapid City and Deadwood were just fledgling cities. It was that year that Charley Nolin was retiring from the United States Mail Service. He was making his last Pony Express ride from Sidney, Nebraska to Rapid City and Deadwood in Dakota Territory. This would be his final ride before retirement.
In those days the Indians were known to be hostile to the white man, especially to the lone rider. It was the pony express's policy to carry the mail under the cover of darkness and rest during the daylight hours, as the daylight hours would find the warriors scouting the countryside.
When Nolin reached Rapid City he ran across some freighters, as it was daylight, and he decided to ignore the practice of riding only at night and would string along with them as they made their way on into the Black Hills.
He learned that these freighters were a part of Schofields Freighting Outfit. He struck up a conversation as they traveled along and he led them to understand that this was going to be his last trip, as he was going to return to his home.
When he reached the hill that is just southeast of the town that is now know as Sturgis, South Dakota, he bid the freighters farewell. He started off to Deadwood saying that he could make a fast ride and would be in Deadwood by evening. However, he had not gone more than a mile when he ran across some Indians that were behind the bank of the small creek that he had to pass.
Before he knew what had happened, they had fired three bullets into his body and sent the pony express rider to his death. The Indians then went to his body and cut three scalps from the dead man's head. They then stripped him of his revolver and rifle and scattered the contents of his mail bag across the prairie. They also stole his saddle and pony.
The freighters he had just left heard the shots and went to investigate. They found the young pony express rider dead alongside the road. They took the lifeless body and buried it along the roadside near the spot where he fell. It rested there until 1880 when some citizens of Sturgis reinterred it at Bear Butte Cemetery.
The place where he was shot along the creek is today known as Dead Man's Creek and the gulch in which it flows is known as Dead Man's Gulch."
Contributor: Stone Gardner (47698206)
"Charley Nolin never finished his last Pony Express ride
In 1876, Rapid City and Deadwood were just fledgling cities. It was that year that Charley Nolin was retiring from the United States Mail Service. He was making his last Pony Express ride from Sidney, Nebraska to Rapid City and Deadwood in Dakota Territory. This would be his final ride before retirement.
In those days the Indians were known to be hostile to the white man, especially to the lone rider. It was the pony express's policy to carry the mail under the cover of darkness and rest during the daylight hours, as the daylight hours would find the warriors scouting the countryside.
When Nolin reached Rapid City he ran across some freighters, as it was daylight, and he decided to ignore the practice of riding only at night and would string along with them as they made their way on into the Black Hills.
He learned that these freighters were a part of Schofields Freighting Outfit. He struck up a conversation as they traveled along and he led them to understand that this was going to be his last trip, as he was going to return to his home.
When he reached the hill that is just southeast of the town that is now know as Sturgis, South Dakota, he bid the freighters farewell. He started off to Deadwood saying that he could make a fast ride and would be in Deadwood by evening. However, he had not gone more than a mile when he ran across some Indians that were behind the bank of the small creek that he had to pass.
Before he knew what had happened, they had fired three bullets into his body and sent the pony express rider to his death. The Indians then went to his body and cut three scalps from the dead man's head. They then stripped him of his revolver and rifle and scattered the contents of his mail bag across the prairie. They also stole his saddle and pony.
The freighters he had just left heard the shots and went to investigate. They found the young pony express rider dead alongside the road. They took the lifeless body and buried it along the roadside near the spot where he fell. It rested there until 1880 when some citizens of Sturgis reinterred it at Bear Butte Cemetery.
The place where he was shot along the creek is today known as Dead Man's Creek and the gulch in which it flows is known as Dead Man's Gulch."
Contributor: Stone Gardner (47698206)
Inscription
Charles Nolin
1876
This youthful Pony Mail Carrier on the Sidney-Deadwood Gold Trail was ambushed, killed and scalped in what is now South Sturgis on August 19, 1876. He was buried, next morning, by passing pioneers. On June 7, 1889, local citizens re-interred him here.
Sturgis-Ft Meade Centennial 1978
Sturgis Senior Citizens and Chamber Of Commerce Centennial Committee.
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