On this day in 1860, the Pony Express begins its first run. The long ride from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, would be completed in about 10 days.
Today, of course, a person could travel between Missouri and California within a matter of hours, but in 1860, the 10-day trip was a stunning feat.
“At a time when there were no telephones, radios, or telegraph,” a St. Joseph website explains, “letters from New York to San Francisco took 30 days by steamship around South America. An overland mail route by Butterfield Express took 23 days for delivery. Most knew it was a matter of time before the telegraph and the railroad would span the nation, but with the Civil War looming on the horizon, something was needed now.”
California was closer to Texas than much of the country, and those in northern states knew they needed better communication if they were to keep California in their corner. Moreover, the Butterfield overland mail route lay entirely in the South.
Clearly, something had to be done.
Senator William Gwin of California was among those looking for a solution, but he couldn’t break the stalemate between North and South in Congress. In the end, he convinced William Russell, senior partner of an overland freight company, to give it a try.
Russell’s partner Alexander Majors did most of the legwork. In an astonishingly short period of time between January 1860 and March 1860, Majors got the Pony Express up and running.
He bought 400 ponies, and he established roughly 200 relay stations. He hired staff and riders: Those riders had to be small, so as not to weigh down the horse. Pony Express mail would be carried, relay fashion, passing from rider to rider and horse to horse. A horse would ride 10 to 15 miles per shift, but a rider would keep changing horses, ultimately completing 75 to 100 miles before passing mail to the next rider.
St. Joseph was chosen as a starting point because it was connected to the eastern part of the country, both by rail and telegraph.
The ride was risky, so Pony Express riders were well-paid. Indeed, the first rider was killed mere days after the Pony Express opened. He was riding at night, and his horse stumbled over an ox that was blocking the road. The unfortunate rider was thrown from his horse and crushed.
During one particularly rough patch, riders had to be accompanied by military because of the possibility of attacks from local Indian tribes.
On yet another occasion, a rider got caught in a blinding blizzard. He was tired and disoriented by the storm, so he got off his horse and sat by a tree. He didn’t mean to, but he began dozing off. Suddenly, a small rabbit began licking his face. That rider would forever credit Divine Providence for saving him: Had he fallen asleep, he likely would have frozen to death in his sleep.
The Pony Express performed impressive feats for its time, but it would not last long—only about 18 months. In October 1861, a transcontinental telegraph line was finally completed, making the Pony Express obsolete.
“From its beginning, when it was established and supported by Russell, Majors and Waddell to its end when it was owned by Wells Fargo and Co., the Pony Express was a financial failure,” the Gothenburg Pony Express Association concludes. “The deficit was over $200,000. But what a glorious failure. What a legacy of storied and shining courage it left for the West.”
In reality, both the Pony Express and the transcontinental telegraph are stories of American determination and perseverance, aren’t they?
We’ve always been a country that sets our sights high, achieving task after task that was once thought to be impossible. How AMERICAN.
Primary Sources:
Historical Notes (Pony Express National Museum)
Historical Timeline (Pony Express National Museum)
History of the Pony Express (Gothenburg Pony Express Association)
Pony Express Route (National Geographic)
Ralph Moody, Riders of the Pony Express (1958)
The Pony Express (St. Joseph, Missouri, website)
The real story behind the Pony Express (Wells Fargo website)
The Story of the Pony Express (Smithsonian; National Postal Museum)
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