What Was the Pony Express?
The Pony Express was a mail delivery system that was instituted in April of 1860. It only lasted 18 months until October of 1861, during which time riders traversed over 600,000 miles (965,600 kilometers) of rugged, dangerous terrain. The owners of the Pony Express employed a total of 183 riders during the course of its entire operation.
From the very onset, the purpose of the Pony Express was to create the speediest and most efficient mail delivery system between two vital transportation points: St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, California. The creators of the Pony Express hoped to obtain the government’s million-dollar mail contract servicing the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company by promoting a central route of mail travel.
The Pony Express operated at all times, 24 hours a day, year-round. A relay system of horses and riders was a fundamental aspect of the efficient operation of the Pony Express. Riders changed horses every 10 miles (16 km) or so and many of the chosen horsemen were local heroes.
Pony Express riders had to be a certain weight, which was about 120 pounds (54 kilograms), and on an average, were about 20 years of age. Riders of the Pony Express were known for their keen horsemanship and audacity in the face of hostile Indians encountered along the mail path route. Buffalo Bill Cody, at the tender age of 14, was among the riders hired for the Pony Express.
The first piece of mail ever received via Pony Express arrived in Sacramento on 13 April 1860. It came at a cost of $5 US dollars (USD) per 0.5 ounce (14 grams), but towards the final days of the Pony Express, the cost to send the same piece of mail had fallen to $1 USD per 0.5 ounce (14 grams). At that time, 80 of the 300 persons employed by the Pony Express were riders, whose average performance totaled about 75 miles (121 km). Four hundred horses of varying breeds were purchased and utilized by the riders of the Pony Express as they traveled between the 165 designated stations of the 2,000 mile (3,219 km) mail route.
Considering the fact that in the 18-month run of the Pony Express, only one bag of mail was lost, it was still a financial disaster. The owners of the Pony Express, William Russell, Alexander Majors and William Waddell, had invested a total of $700,000 USD in the Pony Express and disbanded it with a loss of nearly $200,000 USD. To make matters worse, the creators of the Pony Express did not succeed in securing the government's million-dollar contract due to the beginning of the American Civil War and the political pressures of the day.
Written by M. Dee Dubroff
