The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company.
During its 18 months of operation beginning in 1860, the Pony Express reduced the time for messages to travel between the east and west US coast to about 10 days. It became the west's most direct means of eastwest communication before the first transcontinental telegraph was established (October 24, 1861), and was vital for tying the new state of California with the rest of the United States.
Despite a heavy subsidy, the Pony Express was not a financial success and went bankrupt in 18 months, when a faster telegraph service was established. Nevertheless, it demonstrated that a unified transcontinental system of communications could be established and operated year-round. When it was replaced by the telegraph, the Pony Express quickly became romanticized and became part of the lore of the Old West. Its reliance on the ability and endurance of hardy riders and fast horses was seen as evidence of rugged American individualism of the frontier times.
Inception and founding
The idea of having a fast mail route to the Pacific Coast was prompted largely by California's newfound prominence and its rapidly growing population. After gold was discovered there in 1848, thousands of prospectors, investors, and businessmen made their way to California, at that time a new territory of the U.S. By 1850, California had entered the Union as a free state. By 1860, the population had grown to 380,000. The prospect of California and its national role became the source of bitter partisan debate in Congress. The demand for a faster way to get the mail and other documents to and from this westernmost state became even greater as the American Civil War approached.
William Russell, Alexander Majors, and William Bradford Waddell were the three founders of the Pony Express. They were already in the freighting and drayage business. At the peak of the operations, they employed 6,000 men, owned 75,000 oxen, thousands of wagons, and warehouses, plus a sawmill, a meatpacking plant, a bank, and an insurance company.
Russell was a prominent businessman, well respected among his peers and the community. Waddell was co-owner of the firm Morehead, Waddell & Co. In 1859, C. R. Morehead took the proposal for the Pony Express to President Buchanan. After Morehead was bought out and moved to Leavenworth to enter the mercantile business, Waddell merged his company with Russell's, changing the name to Waddell & Russell. In 1855, they took on a new partner, Alexander Majors, and founded the company of Russell, Majors & Waddell. They held government contracts for delivering army supplies to the western frontier, and Russell had a similar idea for contracts with the U.S. government for fast mail delivery.
By using a short route over the Sierra Nevada, surveyed and designed by Sherman Day in 1856, and using mounted riders rather than traditional stagecoaches, they proposed to establish a fast mail service between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, with letters delivered in 10 days, which many said was impossible. The initial price was set at $5 per , then $2.50, and by July 1861 to $1. The initial price was 250 times the price of mail through the normal mail service, which was $0.02. The founders of the Pony Express hoped to win an exclusive government mail contract, but that did not come about.
Russell, Majors, and Waddell organized and put together the Pony Express in two months in the winter of 1860. The undertaking assembled 80 riders, 184 stations, 400 horses, and several hundred personnel during January and February 1861.
Majors was a religious man and resolved "by the help of God" to overcome all difficulties. He presented each rider with a Pony Express special-edition Bible and required this oath, which they were also required to sign.
Operation
Riders rode, for 75 to 100 miles, in all weather, as a 24/7 service.
In 1860, the roughly 186 Pony Express stations were about apart along the Pony Express route. At each station, the express rider would change to a fresh horse, get a bite to eat, and would only take the mail pouch called a mochila (from the Spanish for pouch or backpack) with him.
The employers stressed the importance of the pouch. They often said that, if it came to be, the horse and rider should perish before the mochila did. The mochila was thrown over the saddle and held in place by the weight of the rider sitting on it. Each corner had a cantina, or pocket. Bundles of mail were placed in these cantinas, which were padlocked for safety. The mochila could hold of mail along with the of material carried on the horse.Riders were issued a Bible, a horn to alert employees at stations of their approach, a rifle, two Colt revolvers and ammunition for self defense. However, every ounce of weight slowed delivery, so riders were eventually issued just a single revolver. Eventually, everything except one revolver and a water sack was removed, allowing for a total of on the horse's back. Riders, who could not weigh over , changed about every , and rode day and night. In emergencies, a given rider might ride two stages back to back, over 20 hours on a quickly moving horse.
Whether riders tried crossing the Sierra Nevada in winter is unknown, but they certainly crossed central Nevada. By 1860, a telegraph station was in Carson City, Nevada Territory. The riders received $125 a month as pay. As a comparison, the wage for unskilled labor at the time was about $0.43–1.00 per day, and for semi-skilled laborers like bricklayers and carpenters was usually less than $2 per day.
Alexander Majors, one of the founders of the Pony Express, had acquired more than 400 horses for the project. He selected horses from around the west, paying an average of $200. These averaged about high and each; thus, the name pony was appropriate, even if not strictly correct in all cases.
Pony Express route
Beginning at St. Joseph, Missouri, the approximately route roughly followed the Oregon and California trails to Fort Bridger in Wyoming, and then the Mormon Trail (known as the Hastings Cutoff) to Salt Lake City, Utah. From there, it followed the Central Nevada Route to Carson City, Nevada Territory, before passing over the Sierra and reaching to Sacramento, California. From there mail was transferred to boats to go downriver to San Francisco or, on occasion, via a combination of riders and ferries to the destination.
The route started at St. Joseph, Missouri, on the Missouri River, and then followed what is modern-day U.S. Highway 36 (the Pony Express Highway) to Marysville, Kansas, where it turned northwest following Little Blue River to Fort Kearny in Nebraska. Through Nebraska, it followed the Great Platte River Road, cutting through Gothenburg, Nebraska, clipping the edge of Colorado at Julesburg; and passing Courthouse Rock, Chimney Rock, and Scotts Bluff, before arriving first at Fort Laramie and then Fort Caspar (Platte Bridge Station) in Wyoming. From there, it followed the Sweetwater River, passing Independence Rock, Devil's Gate, and Split Rock, through South Pass to Fort Bridger and then south to Salt Lake City, Utah. From Salt Lake City, it generally followed the Central Nevada Route blazed in 1859 by Captain James H. Simpson of the Corps of Topographical Engineers. This route roughly follows today's US 50 across Nevada and Utah. It crossed the Great Basin, the Utah-Nevada Desert, and the Sierra Nevada near Lake Tahoe before arriving in Sacramento. Mail was transferred and sent by steamer down the Sacramento River to San Francisco. An alternative overland route was used for the first month and whenever the steamer departure was missed. The alternative route, roughly following first today's Interstate 80, then Interstate 680, then California Route 24, took the mail by horseback through Benicia, California. This route would then cross the Carquinez Strait via ferry to Martinez, then on horseback onward to Oakland and across the San Francisco Bay by ferry to San Francisco.
Stations Along the long and arduous route used by the Pony Express, 190 stations were used. The stations and station keepers were essential to the successful, timely, and smooth operation of the Pony Express mail system. The stations were often fashioned out of existing structures, several of them located in military forts, while others were built anew in remote areas where living conditions were basic. The route was divided into five divisions. To maintain the rigid schedule, 157 relay stations were located from apart, as the terrain would allow. At each "swing station", riders would exchange their tired mounts for fresh ones, while "home stations" provided room and board for the riders between runs. This technique allowed the mail to be moved across the continent in record time. Each rider rode about per day.
Missouri: 1. St. Joseph Station
Kansas: 2. Troy Station 3. Lewis Station 4. Kennekuk (Kinnekuk) Station 5. Kickapoo, Goteschall Station 6. Log Chain Station 7. Seneca Station 8. Ash Point, Laramie Creek Station 9. Guittard Station (aka Gantard's, Guttard) 10. Marysville Station 11. Cottonwood, Hollenberg Station 12. Atchison Station 13. Lancaster Station
Nebraska: 14. Rock House Station 15. Rock Creek Station 16. Virginia City 17. Big Sandy Station 18. Millersville, Thompson's Station 19. Kiowa Station 20. Little Blue, Oak Grove Station 21. Liberty Farm Station 22. Spring Ranch, Lone Tree Station 23. Thirty-two Mile Creek Station 24. Sand Hill, Summit Station 25. Hook's, Kearney, Valley Station 26. Fort Kearney
Nebraska (continued): 27. Seventeen Mile, Platte Station 28. Garden Station 29. Plum Creek Station 30. Willow Island, Willow Bend Station 31. Cold Water, Midway Ranch Station 32. Gilman's Station 33. Machette's Station (Gothenburg) 34. Cottonwood Springs Station 35. Cold Springs Station 36. Fremont Springs Station 37. O'Fallon's Bluff, Dansey's/Elkhorn Station 38. Alkali Lake Station 39. Gill's, Sand Hill Station
40. Diamond Springs Station 41. Beauvais Ranch Station
Colorado: 42. Frontz's/South Platte Station 43. Julesburg Station
Nebraska (continued): 44. Nine Mile Station 45. Pole Creek No. 2 Station 46. Pole Creek No. 3 Station 47. Midway Station 48. Mud Springs Station 49. Court House (Rock) Station 50. Chimney Rock Station 51. Ficklin's Springs Station 52. Scott's Bluff(s) Station 53. Horse Creek Station
Wyoming: 54. Cold Springs, Spring Ranch/Torrington Station 55. Verdling's, Bordeaux, Bedeau's Ranch/Fort Benard Station 56. Fort Laramie Station 57. Nine Mile, Sand Point, Ward's, Central Star Station 58. Cottonwood Station 59. Horseshoe Creek, Horseshoe Station
Wyoming (continued) : 60. Elk Horn Station 61. La Bonte Station 62. Bed Tick Station 63. Lapierelle/La Prele Station 64. Box Elder (Creek) Station 65. Deer Creek Station 66. Little Muddy Station 67. Bridger Station 68. Fort Caspar, Platte Bridge/North Platte Station 69. Red Butte (s) Station 70. Willow Springs Station 71. Horse, Greesewood Creek Station 72. Sweetwater Station 73. Devil's Gate Station 74. Plant's, Plante Station 75. Split Rock Station 76. Three Crossings Station 77. Ice Slough, Ice Springs Station 78. Warm Springs Station 79. Rocky Ridge, St. Mary's Station 80. Rock Creek Station 81. Upper Sweetwater, South Pass Station 82. Pacific Springs Station 83. Dry Sandy Station 84. Little Sandy Creek Station 85. Big Sandy Station 86. Big Timber Station 87. Green River Station (crossing Station) 88. Michael Martin's Station 89. Ham's Fork Station 90. Church Buttes Station 91. Millersville Station 92. Fort Bridger 93. Muddy Creek Station 94. Quaking Asp, Aspen, Springs Station 95. Bear River Station
Utah: 96. The Needles, Needle Rock(s) Station 97. (Head of) Echo Canyon Station 98. Halfway Station 99. Weber Station