A History of the Pony Express

Do you ever think about all the instant array of communications available today? About how you can send someone an e-mail and that person can read it in a matter of moments? Today this instant service is probably taken for granted, but there was a time when this process could take over a month to accomplish, instead of mere seconds. That's where the Pony Express came into play.

The Pony Express was devised by three men named Russell, Majors, and Waddell, who literally pulled it together in a two month period during the winter of 1860. They wanted to create a fast mail service that would cross the North American continent from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California. The plan was to make connections between the East and West coasts firmer, especially with the Civil War looming on the horizon.

To accomplish this goal, the three men purchased approximately 400 horses, assembled 156 stations, hired 120 riders, and hundreds of other employees. Each station was spaced about ten miles apart along the nearly 1,900 mile long trail, ten being the average number of miles that a horse could run at a full gallop without rest.

Once everything was in place, an ad in a California paper was said to have read: "Wanted. Young, skinny, wiry fellows. Not over 18. Must be expert riders. Willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred." However, it is unsure whether or not this ad was legitimate one. It is known though that most riders were around the age of twenty, the youngest being eleven and the oldest being in his mid-40s. Not many were orphans, and they usually weighed around 120 pounds.

Today, no one is sure who the first rider to leave on April 3, 1860, but it could have been either a man named Johnny Fry or Billie Richardson to make the run and begin a new page in history and created a system that had not operated in the world since the times of the Romans in Europe or Mongols in Asia.

The Pony Express cut transport times down considerably, averaging about 10 days each way in the summer, and 12 to 16 days in the winter. Each rider earned twenty-five dollars per week for riding in 75-100 mile shifts, switching horses every ten miles, and no matter what happened, they were supposed to guard the mochila, or mail bag, with their life, though only one life was lost during the time of the Pony Express runs. Each mochila could carry about twenty pounds of mail, which cost five dollars per half ounce to send at the beginning of the Pony Express, but later dropped down to one dollar per half ounce.

In the end, the Pony Express did well for what it was, but it couldn't compete with the telegraph wires that made communication faster yet. So, on October 24, 1861, the Pony Express closed down for good, and at a loss. Russell, Majors, and Waddell lost $500,000 on the Pony Express, and all of them ended up dying poor. The Pony Express made history, but the end wasn't a happy one for the men who pulled it together. The next time you send off an instant message, think about the way communication used to be and the people who risked their lives to carry the mail.

Works Cited

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pony_Express

http://www.chevroncars.com/learn/history/pony-express-facts

http://salina.com/www/nie/HistoryMuseum.pdf

http://www.americanwest.com/trails/pages/ponyexp1.htm