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Become a Simple History member: https://www.youtube.com/simplehistory/joinSupport us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/simplehistoryIn 1860, a newly formed...
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🚂 It only lasted for a year and a half, but in that time twelve-year-old Jack Keetley recalls what it was like being one of those daring young Pony Express ...
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The Pony Express: America's Legendary Mail ServiceThe Pony Express was a mail service that operated in the United States from April 3, 1860, to October 24, 1...
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- Polar Night Stories
- The Pony Express Was More Than Twice as Fast as Its competitors.
- It Was A Financial Flop.
- There Was A Weight Limit For Pony Express Riders.
- Riders Were Required to Take A Loyalty Oath.
- Mail Was Carried in A Specially Designed Saddlebag.
- Ordinary People Almost Never Used The Pony Express.
- One Rider Completed A 380-Mile Run in Less Than Two days.
- Riders Didn’T Have The Deadliest Job on The Pony Express.
- Buffalo Bill Cody Probably Wasn’T A Pony Express Rider.
- The Transcontinental Telegraph Dealt The Pony Express Its deathblow.
In the mid-19th century, California-bound mail had to either be taken overland by a 25-day stagecoach or spend months inside a ship during a long sea voyage. The Pony Express, meanwhile, had an average delivery time of just 10 days. To achieve this remarkable speed, company owners William H. Russell, William B. Waddell and Alexander Majors set up a...
Despite its enduring place in Old West legend, the Pony Express never turned a profit during its year and a half history. The company began making deliveries in April 1860, but service ground to a halt just a few weeks later when the Pyramid Lake War erupted between the United States and the Paiute tribe. The temporary shutdown cost the company som...
Since speed was its main goal, the Pony Express went to great lengths to keep its horses’ loads as light as possible. Rather than burly cowboys, most of the riders were small, wiry men who weighed between 100 and 125 pounds—roughly the same size as a modern horseracing jockey. Their average age was around 20, but it wasn’t unusual for teenagers as ...
In exchange for their $100-150 monthly salaries—a substantial sum for the time—Pony Express riders were expected to take a loyalty oath that read: “I do hereby swear, before the Great and Living God, that during my engagement, and while an employee of Russell, Majors and Waddell, I will, under no circumstances, use profane language, that I will dri...
To cut down on weight and facilitate swift horse and rider changes, the Pony Express used a special type of mailbag known as a “mochilla”—the Spanish word for knapsack. This consisted of a leather cover that was draped over the saddle and held in place by the rider’s weight. It featured four padlocked pockets—three for mail and one for the rider’s ...
The speed of the Pony Express didn’t come cheap. In its early days the service cost $5 for every half-ounce of mail—the equivalent of some $130 today. Prices were later reduced to just $1, but they still remained too high for everyday mail. Instead, the service was mainly used to deliver newspaper reports, government dispatches and business documen...
In May 1860, Robert “Pony Bob” Haslam took off on the most legendary ride in Pony Express history. The 20-year-old was scheduled to make his usual 75-mile run from Friday’s Station east to Buckland Station in Nevada. Upon arriving at Buckland, however, he found that his relief rider was petrified of the Paiute people, who had been attacking station...
Pony Express riders had to deal with extreme weather conditions, harsh terrain and the threat of attacks by bandits and Native Americans, but life may have been even more dangerous for the stock keepers who manned the relief stations. Their outposts were usually crude, dirt floor hovels equipped with little more than sleeping quarters and corrals f...
In his autobiography, the famed frontier showman William “Buffalo Bill” Codyclaimed that he served as a Pony Express rider at the age of 14. He even alleged that he once rode a record 384 miles in a single run. But while Cody almost certainly worked as a messenger for the owners of the Pony Express, there is no record of him ever carrying the mail,...
For all its financial troubles, the Pony Express didn’t truly collapse until a better alternative appeared on the scene. The company had spent its brief history bridging the gap between the Eastern and Western telegraph lines, but it was finally rendered obsolete on October 24, 1861, when Western Union completed the transcontinental telegraph linea...
Pony Express summary: Three men in the mid-1800s had an idea to open up a mail delivery system that reached from the Midwest all the way to California. The lack of speedy communication between the mid-west and the west was accentuated by the looming threat of a civil war. Russell, Waddell and Majors designed a system that spanned a number of ...
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 ...
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Volume 1, Issue 2. April–June 1992. The Pony Express is one of the most colorful episodes in American history, one which can be used to measure not only the growth of the nation, but the pioneering spirit of our predecessors. The name "Pony Express" evokes images of courageous young men crossing long stretches of country, frequently under ...
