The Fastest Mail System in History

Delaney Carlson

Junior Division Historical Paper Student-composed Words: 1,567

Imagine being an individual who has the guts to risk death daily, an individual who defines the odds on horseback, an individual who breaks history. The Pony

Express was a turning point in new inventions and businesses in the 1860’s. They galloped through storms, rough terrain, criminals shooting, and vexed Indians. They contributed a new beginning of transportation of information across America, they believed in themselves and rode through all the horrific circumstances and cut the time of mail delivery in fourth.

The was founded by 3 gentlemen, , William B.

Waddell, and William Hepburn Russell. These men had an idea on creating a one of a kind mail system that would break history. At the time [1860], it took around 1 month to transport a letter from St. Louis, to San Francisco, . Majors, Waddell, and Russell wanted to cut the time of mail transportation to under 10 days. Many people thought that their innovation was a joke, or just a ‘thought’ that wouldn’t work; but after much long hours of trial and error, they established the one of a kind, futuristic mail system, The Pony Express.

Majors, Waddell, and Russell had set up a proximity 2,000 miles of trails to ride through different terrain and eventually through many different states. As they started hiring riders and horses, the team started to discover routes needed to make the journey, and started building stations every 10-15 miles with stables for new fresh horses to be ridden, and every 75-85 miles, a station to change out both the rider and the horse. With wanted posters nailed throughout the towns, the posters inquired for,

“Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. Wages $25 per week.” Many young men signed up for this one of a kind adventure. Once riders were hired, they were required to state this oath, “ 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 drink no intoxicating liquors, that I will not quarrel or fight with any other employee 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."

This kept the riders on task, and in the correct state to ride and be trusted with important documents and horses. This basically stopped the riders from drinking, fighting, yelling, and gambling, etc.

At every station, the workers went though rigorous training with their horses.

The stockkeeper would have a horse ready to be quickly saddled up, and rode off to the next stop in a jiffy.

In order to keep their horses speedy fast, they had to cut weight to a minimum.

They only hired light-weight riders which helped in not pushing down too much weight on the horses spine, shoulders, and withers. Back in the 1860’s, their western saddles were a Mother Hubbard-style which attached a mochila covering the saddle with saddle strings to have a grip. At the time, the saddle horn was just had out of leather and wood which later changed in the future. Due to the concern of heavy weight saddles, the Pony

Express designed specialized light-weight saddles that had pockets to carry the mail.

The saddles were reinforced with an arch on the underside of the saddle to keep from pushing down and rubbing on the horses spine, shoulders, and withers. Riders weren’t allowed to carry much to keep their weight down and usually only carried a small pistol, if that. They wanted to be able to let the horse be as flexible as possible so they can easily gallop form place to place.

April 3rd, 1860, The Pony Express began to ride. They had their first ride start in

St. Joesph Missouri, traveling to San Francisco California with Johnny Fry as their first leaving rider. After the first successful ride, business began kicking up and grew into a well-known business. Mail travel time was cut in fourth being just under 10 days. They usually had a few mail delivery going on at once to keep the business in shape.

Their saddles were only equipped with a few pockets to put mail and couldn’t afford a lot of weight in mail. The mail had to be small and lightweight. Majority of it was important documents, and letters. In order to have your letter go through The Pony

Express system, the owner of the letter had to pay five dollars [todays’s currency] per ½ ounce.

After a successful 18 months of the Pony Express running, it came to and end because of the Pacific Telegraph Line. Due to the civil war approaching, news was not being sent fast enough. From a month, to just under 10 days, they [the public and political runners] wanted something faster. The Pony Express was soon replaced to the

Pacific Telegraph Line which spread from San Francisco, California, to Chicago, Illinois.

The Pony Express riders faced many difficulties when riding. No matter what weather conditions they were in, they had to ride through it. With it being in the 1860’s, roads where not paved, and landforms where horrific sizes making it hard to have to travel through states. They had to carefully ride their way through horrific terrain while avoiding Indian grounds as they disapproved of The Pony Express. The Indians disliked how they galloped through their land without permission, and scared away prey and food sources. They[Indians] had shot, and chased so many riders and horses away and even killed multiple riders. A rider named Buffalo Billy Cody stated, “As I was leaving

Horse Creek one day, a party of fifteen Indians 'jumped me' in a sand ravine about a mile west of the station. They fired at me repeatedly, but missed their mark. I was mounted on a roan California horse - the fleetest steed I had. Putting spurs and whip to him, and lying flat on his back, I kept straight on for Sweetwater

Bridge…”

The Pony Express riders may have had it hard, but the stock keepers and workers at the station were also at a death risk. The station were always in open areas with rough terrain around the edges which makes it easy to ambush once around the station. Their bedrooms were incredibly small, and most of it was the corral and stables for the horses. As much as Indians hated the riders riding through their land, they extremely disliked the stations. The stations caused much ruckus being built and stayed for years even after the Pony express ended. Some Indians toke the abandoned stations as an advantage and used them as a shelter during some seasons, but most stayed away as they could hold items they might dislike due to culture. Information differed between sources found online, but Indains had ambushed and burned several stations and killed 16 stock keepers during the Pyramid Lake War in the summer of 1860. This is only compared to about 6 riders being killed on duty of riding in the whole

Pony Express History.

These challenges came at many risks for the workers, but they could overcome it. The riders had to be an expert on horseback, and the horses had to be mighty and fast. These became huge requirements because they did stand on the corner of death everyday and were under to a lot of pressure. Many people also disliked the Pony

Express because it ran at an incredibly high price. But through all the heartaches and negatives, they [Pony Express employes] fought through it. They were trained that no matter what was going on around them, they had to keep riding. It may sound simple, but it was incredibly tricky. If men were shooting at the rider, or if it was storming, if it was rocky terrain, they had to ride through it. “As a good horse is not very apt to jump over a bank, if left to guide himself, I let mine pick his own way.” (Buf falo Bill)

Riders had to know what their horses can handle, and what they can’t. If the horses can’t happen to do something, riders would make a spilt second decision on the route.

This would severely impact the route in either a good way or a bad way. These choices and decisions where what kept the Pony Express on time and running.

Due to these impacts and decisions the riders made, the company was able to change history. They were able to change history in such an underrated way due to the fact that they were able to inform the west coast about the civil war, and many states about political news, and Lincoln’s coming of office. The Pony Express had even influenced much more. The Pony Express began to slowly die off as a company and influenced the use of horse drawn carriages for mail delivery in towns and villages. Even though they were not the first use of a relay team of horses, they influenced much more groups to use the system, even if it wasn’t necessary with horses as the relay team.

The Pony Express also influenced tactics of today’s mail system. As of pricing for mail, the cost for letters kept getting carried to lower prices which is around the average cost for coast to coast shipping today [2000’s]. Today’s shipping also uses relay systems between different companies to get to place to place. For example, if someone buys something that is produced in China and lives in America, it gets shipped form the making company, to a cargo ship that delivers it to a destination in which that a mail delivery company can take to the buyers home. These relay systems help to get packages where they need to be delivered in a quick manner just as The Pony Express did.

The Pony Express broke history in so many different ways. It inspired people and businesses, and even affected America. Its important to remember that these groups and organizations changed many outlooks on history, and who knows what could of happen if they were not come to be at the time. These men[inventers of the Pony

Express] believed in their minds and creativity and set there minds to do something for their county. Imagine what you could do if you set your mind to something you believe in.

Works Cited

Primary Sources

Ashcraft, Jenny. "The Pony Express Begins." Fishwrap ,

blog.newspapers.com/the-pony-express-begins/. Accessed 19 Nov. 2019.

This is website holds one of my primary sources, an article from a newspaper back in the time

of the Pony Express written about the news they delivered. This source is about the Pony

Express delivering important political news on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. It was

about how many people in each state had voted for Lincoln and if he had won, on the last

day, it states that he had won the election. I can use this source to had quotes from the

article in my impact paragraph because of how this impacted the people for them

knowing and getting updated on the news.

"Pony Express Rider, 1861." Eyewitness to History.com,

www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/ponyexpress.htm. Accessed 9 Dec. 2019.

This is a article about eyewitness accounts for the Pony Express. This articles gives a story that

one of the Pony Express riders shared and information about what he said. I used this to

do a quote of the dangers they face while riding on the Pony Express trails.

Pony Express Riders. "The Pony Express Oath." Speech. "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

drink no intoxicating liquors, that I will not quarrel or fight with any other employee 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."

This is an oath rider made before being hired. I used this oath as a quote to talk about how the

pony express stated and the requirements to joining as a rider or a station worker of the

Pony Express.

Pony Express Route. LIBRARY, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/2004629238/. Accessed

19 Nov. 2019.

The is a picture showing the trail map and stations for the Pony Express. Its about how many

stations their where, how far they rode, where they rode, and the route they toke. I will be

using this as a picture to show and to take about how many stations there were to switch

horses and riders and talk about the route.

Secondary Sources

Ashcraft, Jenny. "The Pony Express Begins: April 3, 1860." Fishwrap , 1 Apr. 2019,

blog.newspapers.com/the-pony-express-begins/. Accessed 4 Nov. 2019.

This is a website source of the beginning of the Pony Express. This website is about how the

Pony Express all started and its basic background information. I Used thsi article to help

write the beginning of the historic background to help understand how it was started.

"Pony Express." Historic Resource Study, 17 Jan. 2008,

www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/poex/hrs/hrsb1.htm. Accessed 6 Nov. 2019. This is a article about specific information about the Pony Express. This article is the full

detailed story of the Pony Express with many sources you can use to look at for

information. I used this source to give many writing many specific details about the Pony

Express and a lot of my specific background information.

"The Pony Express National Muesum." St. Joseph Missouri, ponyexpress.org/. Accessed 6 Nov.

2019.

This is a website for a Pony Express museum in Missouri and it gives so much information about

the Pony Express and the museum. This website is about the trails, timelines, and specific

information about the Pony Express. I used this source for names, stories, and basic

background information. And I used the manger of the museum as a interview for my

project.

"Pony Express Trail Map." cccarto , www.cccarto.com/ponyexpress/. Accessed 6 Nov. 2019.

This is another map, but its a inline map and shows me information about each station and what

route it was called and so fourth. Its about information in each and every station that had.

I used this to talk about how far away the stations were and to talk about some specific

stations.

Ruttum, Laura. "The Pony Express: History and Myth." New York Public Library,

www.nypl.org/blog/2010/02/01/pony-express-history-and-myth. Accessed 6 Nov. 2019.

This is a article made by the New York Public Library summarizing the Pony Express. The

author writes about the starting of the Pony Express and events during the Pony Express.

I used this article to help add more information to my starting of the Pony Express in the

historical content and some of the information in the ending of my historical context. Torin. "The Pony Express: The Fastest Delivery of a Message across America." History Now,

www.gilderlehrman.org/history-now/lesson-plan/pony-express-fastest-delivery-message-

across-america. Accessed 6 Nov. 2019.

This is an article by the Institute of American History and is about the impacts of the Pony

Express and some background information. I used this to help write how it impacts up

today and to help write some of my historical context.