The Pony Express
There is a place in Reno where you
can see Billy the Kid's rifle, Buffalo
Bill's saddle, the original Great Seal of
the State of California, a mechanical
lady who plays a harp and eighty-five
fine old antique slot machines. It is
called Harrah's Pony Express Mu-
seum, and visiting it is like taking a
journey into the Old West.
The Museum in an Ice House
In 1920, W. Parker Lyon opened his
Pony Express Museum in South Pas-
adena, near Los Angeles, California.
The museum soon outgrew its build-
ings, and it was moved to a much
4
larger compound in Arcadia, Califor-
nia, across from what is now Santa
Anita Race Track.
Years later, the W. Parker Lyon Pony
Express Museum was purchased by
William Harrah. Frank Harper, Assist-
ant Services Supervisor at the museum
for the past year, says that the building
now housing the collection was built in
the early nineteen hundreds as an ice
house. "As a matter of fact," Harper re-
lates, "it was used for that up until
1958. We took it over in 1962 and
opened it to the public as an automobile
museum. We opened the Pony Express
Museum shortly thereafter."