How long pony express last

The stations were about 10 miles apart, and at every station, they changed mounts, swapping out their steeds up to 10 times a ride; the whole enterprise involved about horses. However, those steeds may not have been ponies in the proper sense—by definition, ponies are small breeds of horse under Accounts of the types of horses used by the Pony Express vary; in his autobiography , Pony Express co-founder Alexander Majors wrote that "The horses were mostly half-breed California mustangs, as alert and energetic as their riders, and their part in the service sure-footed and fleet was invaluable.

Alexander Majors, alongside co-founders William Russell and William Waddell, had just two months to get the Pony Express up and running—a more complicated task than it might sound. They not only had to buy hundreds of horses, but build enough stations that riders could change horses every 10 miles or so—meaning more than stations across the West.

The stations were usually located in remote areas decided by route efficiency rather than construction or supply convenience. Contrary to myth, Pony Express riders weren't speeding across the landscape in cowboy hats wearing fringe-covered buckskins and toting guns. They were trying to minimize the weight their horse had to carry in every way, including in their dress.

In Roughing It , Mark Twain who, we should note, was not always known for his adherence to the truth described seeing a rider for the Pony Express speed by wearing clothes that were "thin, and fitted close; he wore a 'round-about,' and a skull-cap, and tucked his pantaloons into his boot-tops like a race-rider. Twain goes on to say that the rider was unarmed.

Very few company records exist for the Pony Express, making it hard to confirm who was really involved. Much of what we know about the entire endeavor is myth, exaggerated and reworked in tales told long after the route was shut down.

Even first-person accounts tend to be full of inaccuracies—in one first-person recollection, for instance, a man who says he was born in claims he rode for the Pony Express for three years, ending in , 20 years after the last mail was delivered [ PDF ]. And the service's most famous rider, Buffalo Bill Cody , may not have even been a rider at all. Historians disagree on whether or not there's enough reliable evidence to prove whether or not he worked for the operation, which only employed about 80 men plus substitutes , according to the National Park Service.

But the Pony Express performances during his Wild West Show did significantly shape how history remembers the service. In his biography of the showman, Don Russell argues that he was, in fact, probably a rider, but that Cody undoubtedly made the Pony Express into a legend whether he was there or not. Pony Express riders were expected to be stand-up citizens, despite their later reputation as rough-and-tumble frontiersmen.

Pony Express co-founder Alexander Majors asked each of his employees to take an oath saying that they wouldn't curse, drink, or fight. Riders were required to sign the oath on the inside of the specially made Bibles Majors gave each of them. Contrary to his wishes, his riders likely ignored him. First of all, the leather-bound Bibles he wanted them to carry would have weighed riders down, when the whole point was to travel as lightly as possible to maximize speed.

And they probably didn't take the whole "no cursing" rule very seriously either. In , Sir Richard Burton remembered stagecoach drivers hired by Majors and subject to the same oath in his book The City of the Saints : "I scarcely ever saw a sober driver; as for the profanity … they are not to be deterred from evil talking even by the dread presence of a 'lady.

This relay system along the Pony Express National Historic Trail crossing eight states was the most direct and practical means of east-west communications in From Missouri to California the Pony Express riders could deliver a letter faster than ever before.

The Pony Express was in operation for only 18 months between April and October Nevertheless, the Pony Express has become synonymous with the Old West. In the era before easy mass communication, the Pony Express was the thread that tied East to West. Thousands of people moved west on the Oregon and California Trails starting in the s, followed by the Mormon exodus to Utah and the Gold Rush.

The growing West needed fast mail communication beyond the Rocky Mountains. His vision was to create an empire transporting goods, people, and information everywhere west of the Missouri River to California. They had elements of that empire in place even before they started the Pony Express. They had a freight business where they delivered all sorts of goods, mostly for the U. Army, which was their biggest customer.

They had a stagecoach business, a bank, and an insurance company. The hardest part of the Sierra Nevada would have been in winter. There would be snow drifts and the tracks are relatively narrow. You could fit a horse, sometimes two horses, but if there was a wagon in front of you, you had to wait until you got to a spot where you could get around it.

The desert was also very dangerous. If you knew where the path was, you were fine. In most places it was relatively well marked. But west of Salt Lake, in the desert, if you went off course a bit you could suddenly find yourself in a lot of trouble. Nick Wilson is an interesting character.

Uncle Nick , as he was called in later life, was from a Mormon family, who as a young boy then went to live with a Shoshone Indian family in the Utah area. He then ends up as a teenager coming back home where he meets someone who is recruiting for the Pony Express, and he gets a job. He also worked as a stagecoach driver and a trapper. He was also said to have had a good way with breaking horses, like a horse whisperer. It almost certainly started when some whites raped, or wanted to rape, some Indian girls.

Naturally, their families took exception and the end result was that a number of whites were killed and several Pony Express stations were burned down. As a result, the service was stopped because it was too dangerous to proceed. Remarkably, the people of eastern California, who were served by the Pony Express, raised money to rebuild some of the stations and supplied volunteers to help. The work force went from West to East, rebuilding the stations, and the service got back up and running shortly thereafter.

Interestingly, that happened while there was a census being taken. Because of that, riders who were part of the work force to rebuild the stations are recorded at certain locations where the census was taking place. That enabled me to see how they are being listed in the census and get a picture of their ages and work conditions. And because of that, people can relate to it. But the Pony Express was always intended as a short-term venture to raise public awareness—like a huge PR stunt—to get a big mail contract.

The mail contract they were counting on came much too late to help them, and when it did come, it was far too small. But it is financial stuff that sinks Russell. He is so desperate for money that he goes to the War Department and tries to get an advance on some other contracts they had.