# Pony Express: What was the urgency? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 6, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pony-express-what-was-the-urgency/633877 "2012-09-06T18:08:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pony-express-what-was-the-urgency/633877/1 "2012-09-06T18:08:44Z")
The Pony Express was created to provide fast mail service across the Old West just before the advent of the telegraph. What I’ve never understood is- what could have been so important that a couple of days would have made a real difference? ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pony-express-what-was-the-urgency/633877/2 "2012-09-06T18:13:31Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > The Pony Express was created to provide fast mail service across the Old West just before the advent of the telegraph. What I’ve never understood is- what could have been so important that a couple of days would have made a real difference? First class mail is 1-3 days usually, cheap Priority is guaranteed to arrive in 2-3 days, still pretty cheap Overnight express is guaranteed to arrive overnight in certain conditions, expensive. And to add to the absurdity now we have the internet and phones, just send a scan of documents. Yet there are still plenty of people sending stuff overnight, mostly businesses I bet. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pony-express-what-was-the-urgency/633877/3 "2012-09-06T18:20:57Z")
Wag… because slow moving stage coaches were easily robbed? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pony-express-what-was-the-urgency/633877/4 "2012-09-06T18:29:25Z")
You know what? Nevermind… ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pony-express-what-was-the-urgency/633877/5 "2012-09-06T18:35:41Z")
Just a guess, but maybe people wanted their money as quickly as possible, along with arriving goods and letters. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pony-express-what-was-the-urgency/633877/6 "2012-09-06T18:44:18Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > The Pony Express was created to provide fast mail service across the Old West just before the advent of the telegraph. What I’ve never understood is- what could have been so important that a couple of days would have made a real difference? It wasn’t a couple of days, but more like a couple of weeks. The Pony Express took about 10 days (the record being under 8 days). Stagecoaches typically traveled 70 to up to 120 miles a day, so the 1,900 mile route of the Pony Express would have taken a stagecoach anywhere from about 16 to over 27 days. Of course, sending a message and receiving a reply would have taken twice that. The Pony Express service was expensive, so I would guess it was mostly used by newspapers and businesses for which time was critical. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pony-express-what-was-the-urgency/633877/7 "2012-09-06T18:45:11Z")
Based on reading the [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pony_express) entry, it sounds like the primary use was for news and government or business mail – the price for delivery (initially $5, later $1, for a 1/2 ounce letter) was likely too high for most private users. As the riders carried a single pouch, which was apparently limited to a total “payload” of 20 pounds, it seems very unlikely that it was used for package delivery. It actually sounds a lot to me like the sort of “letters” which FedEx specialized in during its early days. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pony-express-what-was-the-urgency/633877/8 "2012-09-06T19:07:40Z")
Prices are very time sensitive. There is a lot of money to be made if you have info about prices and availability of goods before anyone else. For example, if you know Ohio is having a peanut shortage and peanut prices are cheap in Colorado, you can make a fortune buying them before Colorado raises their prices. Also, don’t discount old fashioned impatience. How often have you paid for expedited shipping even if you don’t have an immediate need? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pony-express-what-was-the-urgency/633877/9 "2012-09-06T19:13:09Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > Just a guess, but maybe people wanted their money as quickly as possible, along with arriving goods and letters. As **kenobi** has noted, there was a strict weight limit to what the rider carried. I understand they used special lightweight “onionskin” paper for many letters to kep the weight down. They weren’t delivering money or packages. It was strictly information in the form of letters. Obviously someone thought it worth the trouble. But the system was pretty short-lived. You could measure its lifetime in months. I suspect that would have been true even if the telegraph hadn’t come along as competition. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pony-express-what-was-the-urgency/633877/10 "2012-09-06T19:36:14Z")
For one period of time, dispatches from the West to WDC were important because of the Indian wars and the invasion of Mexican-held territory. Also for the early period of the Civil War when WDC was trying to make sure California was with the Union and wouldn’t become a slave-holder. The actual Pony Express only lasted a brief time, but the rapid delivery of messages was important even before that. Kit Carson famously delivered messages from CA to Washington in record time. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pony-express-what-was-the-urgency/633877/11 "2012-09-06T19:38:00Z")
I guess telegraphs weren’t as widespread as I had thought by that period. I thought they had cross-continental telegraphs by the Civil War. If the Pony Express didn’t carry packages, why did it take the railroad to make them obsolete? Couldn’t telegraphs have done the same thing cheaper? ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pony-express-what-was-the-urgency/633877/12 "2012-09-06T19:40:59Z")
The transcontinental telegraph was completed in October 1861 and yes, it instantly made the Pony Express obsolete. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pony-express-what-was-the-urgency/633877/13 "2012-09-06T19:44:17Z")
Duh. Just read the wiki article. I had thought the Pony Express ran in the 1870s and was made obsolete by the railroad. But it ran in 1860-61 and was made obsolete by the telegraph. That’s good old American public education for you. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pony-express-what-was-the-urgency/633877/14 "2012-09-06T20:43:20Z")
> [@](#): > > The Pony Express was created to provide fast mail service across the Old West just before the advent of the telegraph. What I’ve never understood is- what could have been so important that a couple of days would have made a real difference? Funerals and impending death are pretty time-sensitive. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pony-express-what-was-the-urgency/633877/15 "2012-09-06T22:22:37Z")
Postal chess players were a much more influential interest group then they are now. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pony-express-what-was-the-urgency/633877/16 "2012-09-06T22:37:00Z")
> [@grude](#): > > And to add to the absurdity now we have the internet and phones, just send a scan of documents. Yet there are still plenty of people sending stuff overnight, mostly businesses I bet. Of course, Pony Express didn’t have the internet to compete with in those days. Or did it? > [@Colibri](#): > > It wasn’t a couple of days, but more like a couple of weeks. The Pony Express took about 10 days (the record being under 8 days). Stagecoaches typically traveled 70 to up to 120 miles a day, so the 1,900 mile route of the Pony Express would have taken a stagecoach anywhere from about 16 to over 27 days. Of course, sending a message and receiving a reply would have taken twice that. That would explain some things about SDMB, to judge by several recent nearby threads. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pony-express-what-was-the-urgency/633877/17 "2012-09-07T00:08:27Z")
**PONY EXPRESS: When It Absolutely, Positively Has To Be There In A Fortnight**