Formal fundraising efforts begin later this month for a Pony Express Monument in Sidney.

The Sidney Jaycees hope to raise more than $100,000. Member Dalan Hiett says the National Pony Express Association approached his group about 18 months ago, asking whether it would be interested in the project.

The Pony Express, a private mail service, operated from April 1860 to October 1861 using a network of horseback riders and relay stations. It ran through Nebraska and seven other states on its 1,996-mile trail from Sacramento, Calif., to St. Joseph, Mo.

The Jaycees hope to have the monument finished by June, when commemorative riders come through Sidney. Each year, the association conducts a 10-day, nonstop event called a re-ride.