Despite its short life, the Pony Express was a major influence on the communication system of today. Delivery services like United Parcel Service or UPS, Federal Express and others all evolved from the Pony Express. It opened the west to communication and quite possibly helped to prevent California from seceding with the confederacy.
Before the Pony Express was created, the country depended on a very slow mail system. Mail sent from New York City to California was taken by ship around Cape Horn at the tip of South America. It took over six months to make the 13,000-mile journey, providing the ship was not caught in any heavy storms.
In January of 1849, the government hired the Pacific Mail Steamship Company to carry mail in a monthly service across Panama. Now the mail was taken by ship down to the Gulf of Mexico, then across Panama by mule and finally by ship again to San Francisco. This cut the delivery time down to only one-month.
Next the government tried cross-country mule teams and four horse coaches. Native American raids and bad weather created problems for these methods, however. Then they tried using camels, brought from Africa, to carry the mail. Their feet, used to the soft sand of the Sahara Desert, became sore from walking over the rock trails of the American Southwest.
In 1857, John Butterfield, of Butterfield-Wells Fargo Freight Company, won the government bid for an overland stage mail route. The Postmaster General, Aaron Brown, chose the southern route, called the Oxbow Route. This route was warmer and the coaches did not have to cross the dangerous mountain passes in the Sierra Nevadas.
However, the Oxbow was also 760 miles longer than the Central Route and open to attacks by Native Americans, who were angry about being pushed from their land. This route took 23 days but still that was not quick enough for the Californians.
Gold had been discovered in California in 1848 and the country was on the brink of the Civil War. Easterners who had gone West to seek their fortunes demanded a faster way to get mail from their families back east to them in the west. The solution came by way of a man named William Russell.
A businessman, who owned a failing freight and stage, Russell had joined in a partnership with A. Majors and W.B. Waddell in January of 1855. They became one of the largest freighting firms in the country along with American Express and Butterfield-Wells Fargo. Russell was on a promotional trip to Washington DC when he met with Senator William Gwin of California, who told him of the need for a rapid mail system. Russell agreed with him and took the idea back to his partners.
It took them two months to set up the whole system of 190 stations in 5 divisions, 80 riders, 500 horses and 400 station hands. The company sank over $700,000 into the Express and it was set up without the use of telephone, telegraph or mail. The Pony Express was designed to be the fastest delivery system.
In hopes of gaining the government mail contract of over a million dollars, Russell, Majors and Waddell decided to hire the lightest, fastest young riders they could find to take mail over land. An ad for the Pony Express placed in a newspaper in St. Joseph, MO, read
"WANTED. YOUNG SKINNY WIRY FELLOWS, not over eighteen. Must be expert riders willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. WAGES $25 per week. Apply, Central Overland Express, Alta., Montgomery St.."This ad is now thought by some historians to be phony.
Because speed was such an important consideration, the young men had to weight less than 120 pounds. They carried a specially made leather mail pouch called a mochilla. A mochilla was a leather covering that fit over the saddle. In the corners were four locked leather boxes called cantinas. On top of that the riders carried a light rifle and Colt revolver and other equipment that all together totaled 25 pounds. The total weight on the horse was 165 pounds, mail being limited to 20 pounds of the total.
Each rider wore an outfit consisting of a red shirt and blue pants. They had to sign and oath stating,
I do hereby swear before the great and living God that during my engagement, and while I am an employee of Russell, Majors and Waddell, I will under no circumstances use profane language; that I will drink no intoxicating liquors; that I will not quarrel or fight with other employees of the firm, and that in every respect, I will conduct myself honestly, be faithful to my duties and so direct all my acts as to win the confidence of my employers. So help me God.They were also issued a Bible to "sustain their courage and hardiness to make the ride through potentially dangerous country of Indians, bandits, deadly blizzards and murderous heat."
The Express ran the Central Route from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California, a total of 1900 miles, and had decreased average delivery time from eight weeks to ten days. The Express officially began on April 3, 1860 with Johnny Fry riding the first westbound route from St. Joseph. It ran twenty-four hours a day, six days a week and in any weather. Riders were changed very 75 to 100 miles and they got a fresh horse every 10 to 15 miles. One hundred and ninety stations were interspersed over the length of the route.
For the first month the express ran on time. Then the Paiute Indians began attacking the settlers and the station houses around Carson City. The Central Route became unsafe for 250 miles. The Express stopped running for one month and when it started up again, Russell doubled the runs to make up the lost business.
It cost $5.00 per 1/2 ounce to send a letter to San Francisco and $3.00 to send to Salt Lake City when the Express started out. The mail was written on very fine tissue paper and wrapped in oiled silk for protection against water and sweat. The fastest run ever taken was delivering Lincoln's Inaugural Address in 1861. It only took 7 days and 17 hours to reach California.
Russell, Majors and Waddell were losing money because they had not received the government contract. In February of 1861, they merged with Butterfield- Wells Fargo and became the Overland Mail Company. On March 2, 1861, the Overland Co. received a one million-dollar per year contract to carry mail "Until the completion of the transcontinental telegraph." Even though the company had gotten a long sought after government contract, they never made enough money from it due to the rapid speed at which the telegraph was constructed.
The telegraph, which before had only reached as far as St. Joseph, had been expanded to California. On October 24, 1861, the telegraph reached Sacramento, CA and could span the distance of the Central Route in minutes instead of the days which had seemed so fast before. Two days later on October 26, the Pony Express was officially closed.
The Pony Express lasted only 18 months. It never ran at a profit and by the end, the cost of mail had dropped to $1 to send the same 1/2 ounce it had cost $5 to send when they started.
Today we have many ways of sending packages and mail quickly and inexpensivly all over the globe. Companies like UPS and Federal Express ship packages and documents as quickly as overnight to all corners of the earth and in some cases, even the same day by means of trucks and planes. Fed Ex has even begun Sunday delivery, recognizing the fact that many businesses are open seven days a week. Perhaps some day in the future packages will be transported by matter teleportation and delivery time will be cut back to hours instead of days.
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