1/6/2024 0 Comments Pony expresso numberA lone rider on a bay mare galloped from Pike’s Peak Stables in St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, the first successful Pony Express run took place on April 3, 1860. The Pony Express was born, envisioning a similar contract for fast mail delivery.įrom St. Before the Pony Express, the freight and stage company held government contracts for army supply delivery, employing 4,000 men and owning 3,500 wagons and 40,000 oxen. Waddell, and Alexander Majors, the Pony Express became a subsidiary of the larger Central Overland California and Pike’s Peak Express Company. The outfit began as a “publicity stunt” in hopes of winning a million-dollar government mail contract for Central Overland California and Pike’s Peak Express Company, a freight and stage organization. The Pony Express was the first “express” mail line across the United States. Feed had to be hauled, in some cases, hundreds of miles, all at a heavy expense, and, as the country produced nothing then, provisions were hauled by wagons from the Missouri River, Utah, and California.Ĭopyright © 2023 Legends of America.The original Pony Express Stables in St. Ironically, the cost of maintaining even this hard living at each Pony Express station was high. the work is severe the diet is sometimes reduced to wolf-mutton, or a little-boiled wheat and rye, and the drink to brackish water a pound of tea comes occasionally, but the droughty souls are always out of whiskey and tobacco.” Sir Richard Burton, an English adventurer-writer, who was traveling on Central Overland California and Pike’s Peak Express stage route in 1860 and witnessed the arrival and departure of Pony Express riders, said: Life at both the home and relay stations was very hard. Relay rider stations usually had a single caretaker for the horses. In the beginning, the relay rider stations were set approximately 20-25 miles apart, but later, more relay rider stations were established at shorter intervals, about 12-15 miles apart. Some stagecoach stations were constructed under either Hockaday & Company or the Chorpenning Company lines and then absorbed by the Leavenworth & Pike’s Peak Express Company or its successor company, Central Overland California and Pike’s Peak Express.īetween home stations, there were several relay rider or swing stations. Typically, home stations had an agent or station keeper in charge of five or six boys. At home stations, which were usually associated with previously established stagecoach stations, employees of the stage company were required to take care of the ponies and have them in readiness when required. During its 19-month history, the distances and particular stations on the route changed with time and varying circumstances.Īlexander Majors stated that home stations were located approximately 65-100 miles apart. The country’s character determined the numbers and distances between home stations and relay stations. Later, it was usually transported by steamers unless there was some problem.Įach division of the Pony Express route had an established number of “home” stations with various “relay rider” or “swing” stations between them. For the final segment - the stretch from Sacramento to San Francisco, the mail was first transported by horse relays. Joseph, Missouri to Fort Kearny, Nebraska the second division from Fort Kearny to Horseshoe Station (above Fort Laramie), Wyoming the third from Horseshoe Station to Salt Lake City, Utah the fourth from Salt Lake City to Roberts Creek, Nevada and the fifth division, from Roberts Creek to Sacramento, California. The Pony Express operation was divided into five operating divisions. Joseph, Missouri, now serves as a museum.
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