As thousands and thousands of emigrants made their home in California and Nevada, they wanted to stay in touch with family and friends back east as well as stay current with the news of the nation. Thus the need for mail service in a matter of days rather than months. And Americans are known for seeing a need and meeting it!
These 3 men partnered in 1855 to run a freighting company with government contracts for delivering army supplies to the west. They determined that a fast mail service using a short route with mounted riders instead of stagecoaches could get mail from Missouri to California in 10 days. Within 2 months, they put together the Pony Express in the winter of 1860 with 120 riders, 400 horses, and several hundred personnel to staff stations.
Operation – first ride started on April 3, 1860, and ran between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. Lasted only 18 months. Last mail bag delivered on October 28, 1861,
stats:
- 1900 miles long
- 184 – 190 stations in-between
- stations were 12 – 25 miles apart
- single rider would ride 75 – 100 miles, changing horses at every station
- 75 horses (approximately) to make a 1-way trip
- Pony Express lasted about 18 months until the transcontinental telegraph reached the west
Life at the stations was tough: possibility of death, hard work, lousy diet, nasty water.
cost to mail letters: $5 to send a 1/2-ounce letter (about $139 today). Price dropped to $1 per 1/2-ounce by the end of service (about $26 today).
Qualifications to be a rider: young, skinny, wiry, men under 18, expert riders, willing to risk death daily, orphans preferred—all for $25 per week!
rider’s oath
saddles
3 pockets with mail locked; 1 pocket unlocked for mail to be delivered and picked up along the way
Site of the Pony Express station in Genoa was across the street from the Mormon Station.
Original route in 1860 went though Genoa. By May 1860, the Kingsbury Grade toll road over Daggett Pass was open for horse traffic and was used by the riders. It opened for wagon traffic in August 1860, saving 8.4 miles.
This climb over the Sierras was a tough one for the riders, the steepest of their ride. In 10 miles, it rose more than 2500 feet to an elevation of 7334 above sea level.
This location was always a station for riders as they waited for their next trip. In September 1860, Carson City because the new home station.
fastest and longest ride – Robert Haslam rode 380 miles in 36 1/2 hours through desert country as an Indian war was going on
Some of the Pony Express riders made it to old age.
stagecoach travel
tips for stagecoach travels
the telegraph – even faster than the Pony Express for getting news to California
the railroad – the Pony Express riders were no longer needed as the trains took over the job of moving the mail quickly
Since the railroad passed along the Truckee River some 50 miles north, Mormon Station in Genoa was no longer the main route for transcontinental travel.
So we went from wagon trains to stagecoaches to the Pony Express to the telegraph to the railroad within 30 years. We’ll be seeing more of the Pony Express as we travel east through Nevada on our way toward home.
