Pony Express Then and Now

by Tim Gibbens, National Pony Express Association Secretary, Nebraska Division

Wanted ­ young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred, wages $50 per month.

How can something that lasted 18 months 150 years ago leave such a lasting impression on people today? I am talking about the Pony Express; you might have seen it on a page or two of your history book when you were in school, or maybe you caught a movie about it.

This is about the men and women that every year load up their horses and travel the same paths as their brothers of past did.

The original Pony Express ran from April 1860 to November 1861. The three men that defied all logic were visionaries of their time. William H.

Russell, Alexander Majors and William B. Waddell had hoped to win a mail contract by providing a faster and more reliable means of communication across the United States. Prior to the Pony Express, mail was carried by ship, stagecoaches and even mules across Panama.

Russell, Majors and Waddell decided to use light-weighted men and sturdy horses. They planned a route that would cover 1,966 miles and leave the Patee House in St. Joe, Missouri, and travel across Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and stopping at Sacramento, California, in 10 days. They had riders in the saddles 24 hours a day and traveling both directions. About 400 horses and 80 riders were used. Each rider covered 75 to 100 miles per trip, averaging 10 miles per hour and changing horses about every 10 miles.

When riders were hired, they were issued a revolver, a Bible and an oath. “I, (NAME,) 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 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.”

Each animal was limited to carrying 165 pounds. The mochila, saddle and bridle together weighed 13 pounds. The original cost to mail a letter was $5 per 1/2 ounce (approximately $110 today). The telegrams and letters transported by the Pony Express were carried in a mochila. The word “mochila” came from the Spanish word for knapsack. It had four pockets and was thrown over the saddle to prevent it from slipping off the horse.

They were told that it could never be done, especially in 10 days. Skeptics claimed that they would never get across the mountains in the winter and the riders couldn¹t make it across the desert. People thought that Russell, Majors and Waddell were foolish to waste their money, but those three men were determined to make it happen, and they did.

Time and modern technology was against them. No sooner did they get the pony rider off from St. Joe on April 3, 1860, than plans were in the work for extending the telegraph lines, then the railroad across the vast west. The telegraph wires were completed in the fall of 1861.

The winter of 1860 and 1861 did slow them down, along with a few Indian uprisings that wiped out a couple of Pony Express stations, but overall the Pony Express was a success. Not financially. The mail contract was never awarded. Russell, Majors, and Waddell went bankrupt trying to connect the west with the east. It was more of a moral victory for the country; the cries for California to secede from the union were squelched, and it was proven that communication across the “Great American Desert” was not only capable but real.

Jumping to the modern age, the telegraph wires were replaced with the telephone, and cars replaced the trains. What could be the reason to resurrect the Pony Express, a group of riders and a company that only lasted 18 months? The great migration west and the great cattle drives lasted for years and the civil war lasted for 4 years, so what is it about the Pony Express that catches the attention of Americans every year?

See the rest of the story in the June 2011 issue of Saddle Up Nebraska. Only $15/annually! To subscribe click the following link: http://goo.gl/IKdWa

Tags: Alexander Majors, pony express, riding, trail ride, William B. Waddell, William H. Russell

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