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Herb Mignery has completed the enlargement and in July 2007 sent it to the foundry in Loveland, Colorado for fabrication. The bronze maquette will be available for sale Fall 2007.
Passing the Legacy concept
unveiled by Mayor Mary Manross, Councilwoman Betty Drake, and Herb Mignery
at the concluding ceremony of the 2007 Hashknife Pony Express ride at
Scottsdale's main post office: February 2, 2007
SPA Board approved the proposal by Herb Mignery: November 8, 2006
Selection panel meeting to review
the proposals: November 7, 2006
Public viewing of proposals by
Herb Mignery: November 4 and 6, 2006.
Selection panel met to short-list
candidates to seek proposals from: August 10, 2006
SPA Board approved the community
initiated project: June 13, 2006
 
Community initiated monument that
commemorates 50th anniversary of the Hashknife Pony Express
The bronze monument (life and a
quarter in size) will depict the activity and spirit of the Hashknife
Pony Express
Dedication is planned to coincide
with the Hashknife’s 50th Anniversary Ride in February 2008
Passing the Legacy will be located at the Marshall Way cul-de-sac,
just south of Camelback Road on the north bank of the Arizona Canal, in
downtown Scottsdale.
Reaching back to grasp the passing legacy of the nation's original Pony
Express, a modern-day horseman plunges forward into a new era. The hashknife
itself has a diverse history. During the nineteenth century, it was a
tool used by chuck wagon cooks to cut meat for hash, often fed to cowboys
on the range. As a symbol, the Hashknife is the oldest recorded brand
in the state of Arizona, registered to the Babbitt family. It is also
the trademark name of Arizona's Hashknife Pony Express outfit, which holds
a long-standing contract with the U.S. Postal Service. Annually since
1958, men on horseback have continued the horse delivered mail service
by carrying mail bearing the prized "Via Pony Express" cachet
along a 200-mile route from Holbrook to Scottsdale's downtown post office.
In 2008, Scottsdale will celebrate the fifty years since it became a badge
of honor for volunteer members of the Navajo County
Sheriff 's Posse to participate
in the tradition of hauling the mail. Many riders' chaps, saddle, or saddle
blanket feature twenty or thirty Hashknife brands, signifying each of
their rides. Through authentic detailing and explosive action, Scottsdale's
new monument merges an American phenomenon of yesterday with the passion
of the today's Hashknife Pony Express.
Herb Mignery is a noted western artist and sculptor. A Nebraska native,
now living in Loveland Colorado, Mignery is a member of the prestigious
Cowboy Artists of America (since 1984). He gained early recognition for
his classic and humorous western cartoons, rose to fame when he starting
sculpting scenes from his early Nebraska farm and ranch days. Mignery's
work captures the true spirit of his subjects, making the people and events
he depicts come alive.
Mingery's subjects often focus on the difficult reality of life in the
West. He gives his figures a certain elegance and sense of classical composure,
although they are not idealized. It is in the details and accoutrement
that Mignery tells us the hidden meaning in his subjects, their profession,
and their lives.
Mignery's award-winning career includes a long list of public monuments
for cities, collectors and institutions across the nation. Honors include
the Best of Show and the Western Art Associates Kieckhefer Award at the
Cowboy Artists of America Show in Phoenix, Arizona, the Norris Foundation
Award at the Autry Museum in Los Angeles, and the Leonard J. Meiselman
Memorial Award for sculpture at the National Sculpture Society in New
York.
Elected to the National Sculpture Society in 1996, Mignery has also served
on its Board of Directors, as well as serving as president of the Cowboy
Artists of America 1992-1993 and is a founding member of Cowboy Cartoonists
International.
Mignery is also a popular cartoonist, and his comic cowboy cartoons have
appeared regularly in Western Horseman magazine since 1985. He has illustrated
books, and his art has appeared on calendars, greeting cards, prints,
posters and t-shirts.
Asked about the philosophy behind his work, Mignery states, "I feel
that our attitude and our view of our future can only be determined by
an examination of our ancestors, and the society they created. Just as
a weather vane points toward the source of the wind, it must also point
to the direction the wind is going. Likewise, we must focus our attention
both ways to avoid losing those valuable lessons so painstakingly learned
by those before us."
The Hashknife Pony Express makes its ride every year beginning 200 miles
from historic Holbrook, traveling through the majestic Mogollon Rim and
the wilderness of the Mazatzal range, to deliver mail to the desert city
of Scottsdale, Arizona. It delivers 2,000 first-class letters by horseback,
using antique mailbags, said to be 100 years old. The US Postal Service
found the mailbags in Grand Central Station and donated them to the Hashknife
Pony Express.
More than two dozen riders in
authentic cowboy clothing carry the mail at a full gallop, relaying the
bags along the route. The ride is led by members of the volunteer Navajo
County Hashknife Sheriff's Posse. Their arrival in Scottsdale kicks off
the annual Parada del Sol organized by the Scottsdale Jaycees. The Parada
is an annual event in its 55th year. It includes the Parada del Sol Parade,
which has the distinction of being the World's Largest Horse Drawn Parade,
a rodeo and other events.
The Hashknife was a tool originally used by chuck wagon cooks to cut meat
for hash, often fed to cowboys on the range.
The Hashknife brand is the oldest registered brand in the state of Arizona,
registered to the Babbitts. The brand originated in Texas as the identification
of the Aztec land and Cattle Company, which moved to Holbrook, AZ in 1866.
In 1957, the Navajo County Sheriff's Posse obtained limited use of the
brand. The Navajo County Sheriff’s Posse owns the trademark, the
copyright, and the trade name, “Hashknife Pony Express.” All
of the Hashknife riders are posse members. It’s a badge of honor
for Hashknife Pony Express riders to brand their chaps, saddle, or saddle
blanket for each ride they participate in. Some of the riders have 20
or 30 brands to boast of their years on the ride. Only the Babbitts may
use the Hashknife brand on livestock, so if you have a horse with the
Hashknife brand it came from the Babbitts.
The Hashknife outfit has the longest-standing contract with the U.S. Postal
Service to carry the mail and annually delivers around 2,000 pieces of
first class mail bearing the valued "Via Pony Express" cachet
which is hand-stamped by the riders before the start of the ride. The
"Official Pony Express Envelope" is available and the public
can purchase them for $1 each at the Holbrook, Overgaard, Pine, Heber,
Payson, Fountain Hills and Scottsdale Post Offices.
Margaret Bruning
margaretb@sccarts.org
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