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Pony Express, mail service operating between Saint Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento,
California, inaugurated on April 3, 1860, under the direction of the Central Overland
California and Pike's Peak Express Company.
At that time, regular mail delivery took up to three weeks to cross the continent. The
Pony Express carried mail rapidly overland on horseback the nearly 2000 miles between St.
Joseph and Sacramento; the schedule allowed ten days for the trip. The mail was then
carried by boat to San Francisco. Stations averaging at first 40 km (25 mi) apart were
established, and each rider was expected to cover 120 km (75 mi) a day. Pony Express
riders were usually lightweight young men, often teenagers. Special saddle bags that
could be moved to a fresh horse very quickly at a change station were used. Buffalo Bill
was a famous Pony Express rider.
Eventually, the Pony Express had more than 100 stations, 80 riders, and between 400 and
500 horses. The express route was extremely hazardous, but only one mail delivery was
ever lost. The Pony Express is credited with helping to keep California in the Union by
providing rapid communication between the two coasts. News of the election of Abraham
Lincoln to the United States presidency in 1860 and of the outbreak of the American Civil
War in 1861 reached California via the Pony Express. The regular Pony Express service was
discontinued in October 1861, after the Pacific Telegraph Company completed its line to
San Francisco.
The Pony Express was developed by William H. Russell, William B. Waddell, and Alexander
Majors. Financially, the Pony Express was a failure, leading its founders to bankruptcy.
However, the drama surrounding the Pony Express made it a part of the legend of the
American West.
Bibliography
Pony Express, Microsoft? Encarta? Online Encyclopedia 2000
http://encarta.msn.com ? 1997-2000