"The Mail Must Go Through": The Pony Express

It didn’t read like a job advertisement that would appeal to the average young man in the year 1860:

“Young, skinny, wiry fellows, not over 18. Must be expert riders. Willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred.”

But a special few liked the idea of riding horseback for the Pony Express. With its taste of danger and adventure, it sounded like a great opportunity.

The Pony Express is one of the most famous stories of the Wild West. This service carried mail for 1,966 miles between Saint Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. Many brave men, and boys, carried mail by horseback. They risked injury and death with every ride. Routes could be between 75 and 100 miles long. There were blinding blizzards that could dump four feet of snow, violent rainstorms, and difficult terrain that included high mountain ranges as well as wastelands of sand and sagebrush.

How the Pony Express Came to Be

The Pony Express was the idea of William H. Russell, Alexander Majors, and William B. Waddell. They owned a company that transported goods. They were especially interested in making their company bigger and hoped the government would pay them for a service that carried mail west quicker than ever before. U.S. mail in the 1850s usually took at least 24 days to reach California. It had to be sent by stagecoach or by steamship around South America. Simmering conflicts, the very ones that would lead to the Civil War, made communication with California critical at this time. Both the North and the South wanted to be able to access California’s rich resources. And a half million people were living in the West by 1860. Both reasons made a faster mail service very important. So Russell, Majors, and Waddell proposed using single riders on horseback to carry the mail. They also mapped out a shorter route. Their claim? Mail could be delivered in just 10 days, a feat no one believed possible. But this kind of mail delivery would have a high price. At a time when a normal letter cost two cents to send, a letter sent through the Pony Express cost $5.00 per half ounce. In today’s money, it would be like spending $130 just to mail a single letter.

Over the course of two months during the winter of 1859-1860, Russell, Majors, and Waddell set up a new company. They named it the Central Overland California & Pike’s Peak Express Company. Most of the organizational work would be done by Majors. Majors purchased 400 ponies and arranged for the construction of 200 way stations. They began advertising for riders. These riders had to meet strict guidelines. They could only weigh between 100 and 125 pounds. A horse could move more quickly if the man it was carrying was light. This weight restriction meant many Pony Express riders were young. Most were teenagers or in their early twenties. At just 11 years old, Rider Charlie Miller (nickname “Bronco Charlie”), became the Pony Express’s youngest rider.

Regardless of age, every rider took an oath. Then they became Pony Express riders, who could earn $100 to $150 a month. This was a very good salary for that time, but it often came at a high price. Riders risked accidents and encounters with indigenous Americans, who had been displaced and preyed upon and were naturally hostile to these white riders. Some riders even paid the highest price of all: death.

How did the Pony Express system work?

Each rider rode a specific route, riding as fast as possible for 10-15 miles. Then they would stop at a station to switch horses before continuing. Stations were usually a small shack run by a stationmaster with a corral of fresh horses. One rider would cover about 75 to 100 miles and then hand off the mail to another rider who would travel the next part of the route. This relay system was what made it possible to carry the mail so quickly. At its peak, the Pony Express system included 190 stations, 80 riders, and 420 horses.

Short-lived Fame

Many riders rose to fame, making the Pony Express part of the larger story of the Wild West. Rider Robert “Pony Bob” Haslam made the most famous ride in May of 1860. At 20 years old, he rode 380 miles in just 40 hours, a record for the Pony Express. Haslam had ridden his usual 75 miles only to find that the next rider was terrified of the indigenous Paiute people. Due to incidents involving riders and their own people, the indigenous Paiute had been attacking the Pony Express stations. The next rider refused to ride. So Haslam continued, making the full route without a rest. Rivaling Haslam, Jack Keetley once rode for 340 miles in just 31 hours with only a few minutes’ stop. When Keetley arrived at his destination, he was asleep in his saddle. There are also many tales of Buffalo Bill Cody, who claimed to have been a Pony Express Rider. Whether he was actually a rider or a messenger, Cody became famous for his Wild West Show, which included reenactments of Pony Express rides. This helped keep the tales of the Express alive.

The Pony Express only lasted for 18 months. Its owners lost money because of the high costs of feeding horses, keeping them healthy, and maintaining the stations. And few people wanted to spend $5.00 to mail a letter. When the transcontinental telegraph system — a way to send messages long distance over wires using an electrical signal — began operating on October 24, 1861, it was the end of the Pony Express. The last letters were delivered by November 1861, but the Pony Express and the stories of its riders would forever live on through the lore of the Wild West.