Sixty miles north of Kansas City, ST JOSEPH boomed as a supply depot for the California Gold Rush, and today is still a busy manufacturing town. For a brief eighteen months, starting in 1860, it was the home of the legendary Pony Express , which took ten days to deliver mail all the way to Sacramento, California, by continuous horseback relay. The Pony Express was a financial disaster, driven out of business by its inability to compete with the transcontinental telegraph, but riders such as Buffalo Bill Cody went on to become legends. Charlie Miller, the last of the riders, rode from New York to San Francisco in 1931, and died aged 105 in 1955. The full story is told in lively dioramas at the Pony Express Museum , 914 Penn St, attractively set in the company's original stables (Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm; $4).

It was in St Joseph, on April 3, 1882, that the notorious Jesse James was shot in the back by Robert Ford, a twenty-year-old member of his own gang who had negotiated a $10,000 reward from the governor. Countless books and films have portrayed Jesse James as a latter-day Robin Hood; in fact, he spent most of the Civil War riding with a band of Confederate guerrillas. The Jesse James Home Museum , the one-story frame cottage where James was living incognito (naturally) while he planned his next bank job, now stands at 12th and Penn streets, having been moved closer to the main highway in the hope of attracting sightseers (April-Oct Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm; Nov-March Mon-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun 1-4pm; $2). A ragged hole in the wall is pointed out as the spot where the bullet supposedly hit, after striking James as he was hanging a picture; you can also see where bloodstained splinters were chiseled from the floor to be sold as souvenirs. As for the assassin, Ford was himself gunned down ten years later, and his killer in turn was also shot.

There are thirteen museums, most about the Old West, but there's not much reason to linger. If you do want to leave the drive to Kansas City or Omaha for another day, you'll find motels strung along I-29 as it passes east of downtown, including a Motel 6 (tel 816/232-2311; $35-50) and a Days Inn (tel 816/279-1671; $50-75) at the intersection with Frederick Boulevard. The Old Town Smokehouse & Pub , 1120 Penn St (tel 816/232-1899), serves huge sandwiches at appealing prices and is a must if you want lunch in St Joseph.

St Joseph

• St Joseph

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