Did you know? Every year there is a group of horse riders who recreate the Pony Express ride? They ride the 1,800 miles between St. Joseph MO and Sacramento CA, alternating directions each year.
They do carry a sack of mail, called a mochila (backpack in Spanish).
Briefly, the Pony Express operated for 18 months in 1860-1861 until the first transcontinental telegraph was established on October 24, 1861. The Pony Express reduced mail delivery from what was months, to just about 10 days.
➤ In 1841 when President William Henry Harrison died of a cold and flu, just 9 days after becoming sick and exactly one month after taking the oath of office, news of his death took 110 days to reach Los Angeles.
➤ In 1856 when James Buchanan won the Presidential election it took months for the news to reach the west coast.
➤ In 1860 when Abraham Lincoln won the Presidential election it took just 9 days for that news to reach Sacramento CA by Pony Express.
The Pony Express never made a profit and went bankrupt. Once the transcontinental telegraph was established between Omaha NE and Carson City NV in October 1861, the Pony Express was done. The Pony Express announced its closure on October 26, 1861, or 2 days after the Telegraph opened.
I find this a little hard to believe… Even without a formal, official Pony Express, there would still have been people moving around through all of the various communities, and news as big as the President’s death would surely have moved quickly through all of the communities that it came to. Once you got to the western edge of regular express-mail territory, there’d still have been someone in that town going to the next town further west within a day or so, and so on for the next town, and so on. The net effect would be something much like the Pony Express, even without the formal structure. Sure, it’d have been less efficient than the real thing, since there wouldn’t always be a westbound rider immediately when the news arrived, but it’s hard to buy that it would be an order of magnitude slower.
In 1859 the post office charged 10¢ to deliver a letter weighing ½ ounce or less from a post office on the east coast to California. That would be about $3.80 today.
In 1860 The Pony Express charged $5.00 for a letter weighing ½ ounce or less. That’s $190.00 in today’s money.
After the transcontinental telegraph was established postal rates were reduced to 3¢ per ½ ounce, falling to 2¢ after the opening of the transcontinental railroad. Rates stabilized there until after WWI. 2¢ in 1869 is about 76¢ today, 3¢ is about $1.14 today.
All this makes our current 68¢ (going to 73¢ next week, better stock up on stamps this week) for 1 ounce look like a real bargain.
That was pretty much verbatim from an LA Times article. I’ll work on finding it, but suffice to say that while it’s possible, I don’t see the LA Times making many mistakes. Except for supporting the Dodgers.
The Pony Express started in St. Joseph, MO. Assuming this is the western edge of regular express-mail territory, how many settlements existed in 1841 between St. Joe and Sacramento? Missouri was, at that time, the westernmost state in the Union. Gold had not yet been discovered in California, so there wasn’t a whole lot of trade between the two coasts. A trip via boat around South America could take as long as six months, although a shorter route existed via the Isthmus of Panama. The LDS community didn’t arrive in Utah until 1847. The first covered wagon train didn’t arrive in LA until 1841, when the population of the community was only about 2,000 folks. That stat quoted by Bullitt seems extremely plausible to me.
Information and people traveled slowly in 1841. The news of Harrison’s death did not reach Fayette, Missouri for 14 days and the 2,000 residents of Los Angeles would not learn of Harrison’s fate until a shipper clip arrived in July.
I was quite surprised the first time I learned this. The Pony Express seems like such an iconic and integral part of US history that I had assumed it must have operated for many years.
Me too. I remember it being taught in school as a young kid, and it being somewhat romanticized. Or maybe it was in an old Errol Flynn black and white movie. Historically romanticized.
And then it only lasted 18 months, and it never was profitable.
Pony Express Reride, now into Nevada: 2024-06-24T2000U
I’ve got a wild hair up my ass and am considering driving east, to east of Sacramento, to meet it and see it, possibly at some places with romantic names like Diamond Springs CA, or Single Springs Corral CA, or Ambush Pass CA, or Rescue CA.
I think that’d be cool to see. If I do I’ll be sure to snap some pictures.
I think that’s a great idea. I’m already planning to do this next year, when it starts in CA and ends in MO. I’m about 200 miles from the route in Kansas, so it’ll be a nice day trip to see the express.
@Gatopescado ! COOL! If you’ve got beer stocks to deplete, I can help with that problem. I’m the man for the job!
except…
Buckland’s Station Silver Springs NV is a wee bit far for me, for this jaunt on Wednesday. That’s 270 miles from me, and I would leave around 0930-0945. That would put me to Buckland’s Station Silver Springs approx 1500. That will be too late. The PE, Pony Express, will have ridden through Fort Churchill approx 0730-0745. 8hrs too late.
I think my best bet will be Friday’s Station Stateline NV / South Lake Tahoe, where the PE will be there approx 1730. I can arrive there (if I’m going — gotta clear it with the wife) approx 1400. The PE is expected there approx 1730, so that is my best bet.
As best as I can tell, the PE will be going to (and this includes DD coordinates) Friday’s Station Stateline NV ▲ 38.9653, -119.9364. Simply paste those DD coordinates into your map to see the exact spot. Note when I say exact spot, that means the spot on the ground where you’ll be close enough to see where the exact spot will actually be.
Let me clear it with the wife. If I go, she’ll likely come with. And if I go, @Gatopescado would you want to meet up at Friday’s Station Stateline NV ▲ 38.9653, -119.9364? You can see more of the goddamn trail!
Pony Express Statue in Sacramento CA ▲ 38.5832, -121.504
Inscription
THE PONY EXPRESS
Sacramento ∘ Friday’s ∘ Salt Lake City ∘ Ft. Laramie ∘ Julesburg ∘ Ft. Kearny ∘ Marysville ∘ St. Joseph
THIS STATUE COMMEMORATES THE GLORY OF THE PONY EXPRESS, WHICH STARTED HERE AT 2:45 A.M. ON APRIL 4, 1860, WHEN SAM HAMILTON GALLOPED INTO A BLINDING RAINSTORM ON THE FIRST LAP OF THE 1,966-MILE TRIP TO ST. JOSEPH, MISSOURI. DURING ITS 18-MONTH EXISTENCE, ITS 121 RIDERS AND 500 PONIES CARRIED 35,000 PIECES OF MAIL WITH THE LOSS OF BUT ONE POUCH. THIS VENTURE, FOUNDED BY RUSSELL, MAJORS, AND WADDELL, ENDED CALIFORNIA’S ISOLATION FROM THE REST OF THE UNION.
