The Crowds Cheered On...
In 1845, it took six months to get a message from the East Coast
of the United States to California. By the late 1850s, a half
million people had migrated west and were demanding up-to-
date news from home. Something had to be done to deliver mail
faster and to improve communcation in the expanding nation.
The Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express
Company, a subsidiary of a major freighting company owned
by the firm of Russell, Majors, and Waddell, announced the
formation of the Pony Express on January 27, 1860. In hopes of
attracting a lucrative contract with the U.S. Postal Service, these
entrepreneurs developed a proposal to carry letter mail and
telegraphs between Missouri and California in only 10 days.
Knowing that a healthy horse could typically run at a gallop for
8 to 12 miles, the developers needed to place stations at strategic
locations for its riders to change mounts. Existing stage stations
and road ranchers on the eastern end of the route would meet their
needs, but new relay stations would have to be built in remote
western areas. Alexander Majors purchased up to 500 mustang
horses, hired 200 men to manage the stations, and 80 riders signed
on to begin the first run of the Pony Express on April 3, 1860.
Although the Pony Express captured the admiration and hearts
of people around the world, it was a financial disaster for its
founders. Eighteen months after starting the Pony Express, it
ended with the completion of the Transcontinental Telegraph on
October 26, 1861.
"Every neck is stretched, and every eye strained... Across the endless
prairie a blac spec appears... In a second or two it becomes a horse
and rider, rising and falling... sweeping toward us - growing more
and more distinct, and the flutter of hoofs comes faintly to the ear -
another instant a whoop and a hurrah from our upper deck, a wave
of the rider's hand, but no reply, and man and horse burst past our
excited faces, and go winging away like abelated fragment of a storm."
- Mark Twain, Roughing it, 1872, Traveling on the Overland Stage in the
summer of 1860.
[Picture captions]
The route of the Poney Express from St. Joseph, Missouri, to San Francisco,
California, Home stations were located every 75 to 100 miles. These were often
existing overland stage stations, hotels, or substantial ranches along the route. Each
rider would begin his run at a home station and change horses six or eight times at
relay stations. At the next home station, he would turn the mail over to the next rider.
Charles
Hargen’s “First Ride of the Pony Express” - Pony Express National
Museum, St. Joseph, Missouri
