A group of western senators headed by California Democrat Alan Cranston has introduced a bill in Congress to study the Pony Express Trail, looking to its inclusion in the National Trails System. In view of the place it earned in American pioneering, the Pony Express certainly deserves that recognition. Approval seems the only realistic action for Congress to take. Of course a great deal of work in tracing and marking the route and its stations already has been done within the states involved. Any new federal study should embrace these previous efforts to avoid duplication. The Pony Express, which operated nearly 19 months beginning April 3, 1860, was the first fast mail line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Coast. It opened an era of speedier communication between East and West and helped bind the young nation together when overland travel was slow and cumbersome. The lranscontinental telegraph followed on its heels, actually eliminating its need. And the railroad lineup at Utah’s Promontory Point came within the decade May 10, 1869. The Pony Express began in the afterglow of the California gold rush which had transplanted half a million Americans across the continent. it was welcomed then and its services became even more vital after the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. Sen. William M. Gwin of California was credited with being the first to promote the experiment. But it was the Kansas freighting firm of Russell, Majors and Waddell that sponsored the undertaking. Despite the Express’ accomplishments, it was a financial failure. Historians say the losses ranged upward from $150,000. The Pony Express had 190 stations spaced 10 to 15 miles apart, with 400 horses, as many stationmen and assistants, and about 80 riders. The relay functioned day and night, summer and winter, through some of the wildest regions of Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California. The courageous riders halved the 22-day delivery time of the overland stage mail route. They made their best record in speeding a copy of President Lincoln’s inaugural address from Sl. Joseph, Mo., to Sacramento in March 1961, traveling the 1,966 miles in seven days and 17 hours. From Sacramento the mail could be taken by steamer to San Francisco. From time to time such agencies as the Bureau of Land Management, Oregon Trails Memorial Association, Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association, Daughters of the American Revolution and others have been active in locating and marking Pony Express stations. Their work could be invaluable in a federal study if Congress gives the go-ahead. The Pony Express demise came Oct. 24, 1861, the day the national telegraph was linked at Salt Lake City. Its tenure was brief but memorable in communications pioneering. National I-listoric Trails designation would add a welcome postscript to the exciting story.