Pony Express - WikiHQ

thumb|upright=1.15|Pony Express advertisement

thumb|Pony Express postmark, 1860, westbound

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

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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

thumb|[[Pony Express Stables in St. Joseph, Missouri]]

thumb|The [[B.F. Hastings Bank Building in Sacramento, California, western terminus of the Pony Express]]

In 1860, the roughly 186 Pony Express stations were about apart along the Pony Express route. 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.

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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.

<!-- No contemporary linking, please. Try to keep any links historically oriented, such as to a historic site that was a former station.

This list of historical names is in the public domain. -->

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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

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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

thumb|Pony Express Marker along the South Platte River in western Nebraska on US 30 (Lincoln Hwy)

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

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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

100. Brimville Emergency Station

101. Carson House Station

102. East Canyon Station

103. Wheaton Springs Station

104. Mountain Dell/Dale Station

105. Salt Lake City Station

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Utah (continued):

106. Trader's Rest, Traveler's Rest Station

107. Rockwell's Station (Hot Springs Hotel and Brewery)

108. Dugout, Joe's Dugout Station

109. Camp Floyd, Fairfield Station

110. Pass, East Rush Valley Station

111. Rush Valley, Faust's Station

112. Point Lookout, Lookout Pass Station

113. Government Creek Station

114. Simpson's Springs, Egan's Springs Station

115. River Bed Station

116. Dugway Station

117. Black Rock Station

118. Fish Springs Station

119. Boyd's Station

120. Willow Springs Station

121. Willow Creek Station

122. Canyon, Burnt Station

123. Deep Creek Station

Nevada:

124. Prairie Gate, Eight Mile Station

125. Antelope Springs Station

126. Spring Valley Station

127. Schell Creek Station

128. Egan's Canyon, Egan's Station

129. Bates', Butte Station

130. Mountain Spring(s) Station

131. Ruby Valley Station

132. Jacob's Well Station

133. Diamond Springs Station

134. Sulphur Springs Station

135. Robert's Creek Station

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Nevada (continued):

136. Camp Station, Grub(b)s Well Station

137. Dry Creek Station

138. Simpson Park Station

139. Reese River, Jacob's Spring Station

140. Dry Wells Station

141. Smith's Creek Station

142. Castle Rock Station

143. Edward's Creek Station

144. Cold Springs, East Gate Station

145. Middle Gate Station

146. West Gate Station

147. Sand Springs Station

148. Sand Hill Station

149. Carson Sink Station

150. Williams Station

151. Desert, Hooten Wells Station

152. Buckland's Station

153. Fort Churchill Station

154. Fairview Station

155. Mountain Well Station

156. Stillwater Station

157. Old River Station

158. Bisby's Station

159. Nevada Station

160. Ragtown Station

161. Desert Wells Station

162. Miller's, Reed's Station

163. Dayton Station

164. Carson City Station

165. Genoa Station

166. Friday's, Lakeside Station

California:

167. Woodford's Station

168. Fountain Place Station

169. Yank's Station

170. Strawberry Station

171. Webster's, Sugar Loaf House Station

172. Moss/Moore, Riverton Station

173. Sportsman's Hall Station

174. Placerville Station

175. El Dorado, Nevada House/Mud Springs Station

176. Mormon Tavern, Sunrise House Station

177. Fifteen Mile House Station

178. Five Mile House Station

179. Pleasant Grove House Station

180. Duroc Station

181. Folsom Station

182. Sacramento Station

183. Benicia Station

184. Martinez Station

185. Oakland Station

186. San Francisco Station </div>

First journeys

Westbound

right|thumb|This 25-cent stamp printed by [[Wells Fargo was canceled in Virginia City, Nevada, and used on a revived Pony Express run between there and Sacramento beginning in 1862.]]

The first westbound Pony Express trip left St. Joseph on April 3, 1860, and arrived 10 days later in Sacramento, California, on April 14. These letters were sent under cover from the east to St. Joseph, and never directly entered the U.S. mail system. Today, only a single letter is known to exist from the inaugural westbound trip from St. Joseph to Sacramento. It was delivered in an envelope embossed with postage (depicted below) that was first issued by the U.S. Post Office in 1855.

The messenger delivering the mochila from New York and Washington, DC, missed a connection in Detroit and arrived in Hannibal, Missouri, two hours late. The railroad cleared the track and dispatched a special locomotive called Missouri with a one-car train to make the trek across Missouri in a record 4 hours and 51 minutes, an average of . It arrived at Olive and 8th Street, a few blocks from the company's new headquarters in a hotel at Patee House at 12th and Penn Street, St. Joseph, and the company's nearby stables on Penn Street. The first pouch contained 49 letters, five private telegrams, and some papers for San Francisco and intermediate points.

St. Joseph Mayor M. Jeff Thompson, William H. Russell, and Alexander Majors gave speeches before the mochila was handed off. The ride began at about 7:15 pm. The St. Joseph Gazette was the only newspaper included in the bag.

The identity of the first rider has long been in dispute. The St. Joseph Weekly West (April 4, 1860) reported Johnson William Richardson was the first rider.

Johnny Fry is credited in some sources as the rider. Nonetheless, the first westbound rider carried the pouch across the Missouri River ferry to Elwood, Kansas. The first horse-ridden leg of the Express was only about from the Express stables/railroad area to the Missouri River ferry at the foot of Jules Street. Reports indicated that horse and rider crossed the river. In later rides, the courier crossed the river without a horse and picked up his mount at a stable on the other side.

The first westbound mochila reached Sacramento, on April 14, at 1:00 am.

Eastbound

The first eastbound Pony Express trip left Sacramento on April 3, 1860, and arrived at its destination 10 days later in St. Joseph, Missouri. From St. Joseph, letters were placed in the U.S. mails for delivery to eastern destinations. Only two letters are known to exist from the inaugural eastbound trip.

Mail

thumb|right|180px|Pony Express Stamp, 1860

As the Pony Express mail service existed only briefly in 1860 and 1861, few examples of Pony Express mail survive. Contributing to the scarcity of Pony Express mail is that the cost to send a letter was $5.00 at the beginning (, or 2 days of semi-skilled labor).]]

Fastest mail service

William Russell, senior partner of Russell, Majors, and Waddell, and one of the biggest investors in the Pony Express, used the 1860 presidential election, of Abraham Lincoln, as a way to promote the Pony Express and how fast it could deliver the U.S. Mail. This was an important event because just four years earlier, in the prior election, it took months to get news of James Buchanan's win. The election of Lincoln was important because the newly-named president would have to take the country into the Civil War.

Attacks

thumb|upright=1.4|Stolen Pony Express mail. Notation on the cover reads "recovered from a mail stolen by the Indians in 1860" and bears a New York back stamp of May 3, 1862, the date when it was finally delivered in New York. The cover is also franked with the U.S. Postage issue of 1847, Washington, 10c black. located on the then [[Carson River under present-day Lake Lahontan (reservoir), not to be confused with the large endorheic Pleistocene lake of the same name (Lake Lahontan). One account says the raid was a deliberate attempt to provoke war. Another says the raiders had heard that men at the station had kidnapped two Paiute women, and fighting broke out when they went to investigate and free the women. Either way, the war party killed five men and the station was burned.

During the following weeks, other isolated incidents occurred when whites in the Paiute country were ambushed and killed. The Pony Express was a special target. Seven other express stations were also attacked; 16 employees were killed, and around 150 express horses were either stolen or driven off. Those who worked at the stations had no one around, possibly for miles, to help defend against the attacks, making working at the stations one of the deadliest jobs in the whole operation. The Paiute War cost the Pony Express company about $75,000 in livestock and station equipment, not to mention the loss of life. In June of that year, the Paiute uprising had been ended through the intervention of U.S. troops, after which four delayed mail shipments from the East were finally brought to San Francisco on June 25, 1860.

During this brief war, one Pony Express mailing, which left San Francisco on July 21, 1860, did not immediately reach its destination. That mail pouch (mochila) did not reach St. Joseph and subsequently New York until almost two years later.

Famous riders

In 1860, riding for the Pony Express was difficult work – riders had to be tough and lightweight. An advertisement allegedly read, "Wanted: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred," but one historian, Joseph Nardone, claims that it is a hoax (dating no earlier than 1902), as no one has found the ad in contemporary newspaper archives.

The Pony Express had an estimated 80 riders traveling east or west along the route at any given time. In addition, about 400 other employees were used, including station keepers, stock tenders, and route superintendents. Many young men applied; Waddell and Majors could have easily hired riders at low rates, but instead offered $100 a montha handsome sum for that time. Author Mark Twain described the riders in his travel memoir Roughing It as: "... usually a little bit of a man". Though the riders were small, lightweight, generally teenaged boys, they came to be seen as heroes of the American West. There was no systematic list of riders kept by the company, but a partial list has been compiled by Raymond and Nancy Settle in their Saddles & Spurs (1972).

Wild Bill Hickok never worked as a rider and only worked as a stocktender for the Pony Express.

First riders

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The identity of the first westbound rider to depart St. Joseph has been disputed, but currently most historians have narrowed it down to either Johnny Fry or Billy Richardson. Mail for the Pony Express left San Francisco at 4:00 pm, carried by horse and rider to the waterfront, and then on by steamboat to Sacramento, where it was picked up by the Pony Express rider. At 2:45 am, William (Sam) Hamilton was the first Pony Express rider to begin the journey from Sacramento. He rode all the way to Sportsman Hall Station, where he gave his mochila filled with mail to Warren Upson. A California Registered Historical Landmark plaque at the site reads:

William Cody

thumb|upright|William "Buffalo Bill" Cody

Probably more than any other rider in the Pony Express, William Cody (better known as Buffalo Bill) epitomizes the legend and the folklore, be it fact or fiction, of the Pony Express. Numerous stories have been told of young Cody's adventures as a Pony Express rider, though his accounts may have been fabricated or exaggerated. At age 15, Cody was on his way west to California when he met Pony Express agents along the way and signed on with the company. Cody helped in the construction of several way-stations. Thereafter, he was employed as a rider and was given a short delivery run from the township of Julesburg, which lay to the west. After some months, he was transferred to Slade's Division in Wyoming, where he is said to have made the longest nonstop ride from Red Buttes Station to Rocky Ridge Station and back when he found that his relief rider had been killed. This trail of was completed in 21 hours and 40 minutes, and 21 horses were required. On one occasion when he is said to have carried mail, he unintentionally ran into an Indian war party, but managed to escape. Cody was present for many significant chapters in early western history, including the gold rush, the building of the railroads, and cattle herding on the Great Plains. A career as a scout for the Army under General Phillip Sheridan following the Civil War earned him his nickname and established his notoriety as a frontiersman.

Robert Haslam

thumb|upright|Robert "Pony Bob" Haslam in later years

"Pony Bob" Haslam was among the most brave, resourceful, and best-known riders of the Pony Express. He was born in January 1840 in London, United Kingdom, and came to the United States as a teenager. Haslam was hired by Bolivar Roberts, helped build the stations, and was given the mail run from Friday's Station at Lake Tahoe to Buckland's Station near Fort Churchill, to the east.

His greatest ride, in 8 hours and 20 minutes while wounded, was an important contribution to the fastest trip ever made by the Pony Express. The mail carried Lincoln's inaugural address. Indian problems in 1860 led to Haslam's record-breaking ride. He had received the eastbound mail (probably the May 10 mail from San Francisco) at Friday's Station. When he reached Buckland's Station, a few days after the death of Pony Express rider Bart Riles, his relief rider was so badly frightened over the Indian threat that he refused to take the mail. Haslam agreed to take the mail all the way to Smith's Creek for a total distance of without a rest. After a rest of 9 hours, he retraced his route with the westbound mail, where at Cold Springs, he found that Indians had raided the place, killing the station keeper and running off all of the stock. On the ride, he was shot through the jaw with an Indian arrow, losing three teeth.

Finally, he reached Buckland's Station, making the round trip the longest on record.

Pony Bob continued to work as a rider for Wells Fargo and Company after the Civil War, scouted for the U.S. Army well into his 50s, and later accompanied his good friend "Buffalo Bill" Cody on a diplomatic mission to negotiate the surrender of Chief Sitting Bull in December 1890. He drifted in and out of public mention, but died in Chicago during the winter of 1912 (age 72) in deep poverty after suffering a stroke. Buffalo Bill paid for his friend's headstone at Mount Greenwood Cemetery (111 Street and Sacramento) on Chicago's far south side.

Jose Zowgaltz

Jose Zowgaltz (also recorded as Zowglat, Zowgalty, and Zogwalt) was an Hispanic pony express rider documented as killed by Paiute Indians. Zowgaltz was ambushed along Edwards Creek, as recorded by assistant station keeper J. G. Kelly in 1860.. He was one of three pony riders documented as killed by hostiles.

Bart Riles

Bart Riles was a shy Mexican teenager who had a vast knowledge of the Nevada desert, an experience that the Pony Express company wanted to capitalize on. Riles was assigned the Pony Express trail of relay stations heading east, starting from Fort Churchill (also known as Buckland's Station) and ending at Smith's Creek, a distance of about 117 miles one way. Moonlighting as a U.S. Army scout, he had just returned to Smith's Creek from army duty, when he was tasked to carry a mochila to Fort Churchill, which was his usual route, but in reverse. Moody writes that Riles was ambushed and wounded by rifle fire in the Shoshone mountains by a Paiute war party, though a contemporary source states that he was shot accidentally. Riles tied himself to his saddle, knowing his horse would follow the route to the Cold Spring relay station, which it did. While one Pony Express employee at the Cold Spring relay station comforted Riles until he died at dawn, the other delivered the mochila to its destination at Ft. Churchill 87 miles away.

Jack Keetley

thumb|upright|Jack Keetley

Jack Keetley was hired by A. E. Lewis for his division at the age of 19 and put on the run from Marysville to Big Sandy. He was one of those who rode for the Pony Express during the entire 19 months of its existence.

Jack Keetley's longest ride, upon which he doubled back for another rider, ended at Seneca, where he was taken from the saddle sound asleep. He had ridden in 31 hours without stopping to rest or eat. After the Pony Express was disbanded, Keetley went to Salt Lake City, where he engaged in mining. He died there on October 12, 1912, where he was also buried.

In 1907, Keetley wrote the following letter (excerpt):