Pony Express in the 1850's

It took the early coaches of Wells Fargo twenty days to cross from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento.  Twenty days was, however, too long a period for the merchants and bankers of the West Coast.  Pony Express was born a short while before the beginning of the Civil War.  Having received assurances that fast communication from the Missouri River to California would be well patronized, three early stagecoach men, Senator W.M. Gwin, Alexander Majors and Daniel E. Phelps, made preparations for the inauguration of the new service.  Six hundred broncos, especially chosen for fleetness, toughness and endurance, were purchased.  Seventy-five men, none of them weighing over one hundred and ten pounds, were engaged as riders, being selected on account of their bravery, their capacity for deprivation and their horsemanship, as well as for their shooting abilities and their knowledge of the craft and the manner of attack of the Indians.  One of these, Henry Wallace, was selected for the signal honor of inaugurating the Pony Express on April 3, 1859. In one of the laced pockets of his mochilla (Mexican saddlebags) he carried a message of congratulation from President Buchanan to the Governor of California, the words having been telegraphed that very morning from Washington to St. Joseph.

The packet which Wallace had taken out from St. Joseph reached Sacramento, the capital of California, just ten days later -- almost to the very hour.  Night and day it had been carried forward unceasingly.  A rider would pick it from his predecessor and ride forth sixty miles at top speed to the point where his "relief" awaited him, to pick up the mochilla and start off in turn upon his sixty mile stretch.  Six hours were given to each of these riders for his sixty mile stint, and in this time he rode six different ponies.

This express was a tremendous hit. Bankers and merchants found a ten day service between the western end of rail and telegraph communication at St. Joseph and Sacramento, where there was overnight boat transit to San Francisco, a tremendous help.  Each day, except Sunday, a messenger left St. Joseph at noon, another coming east from Sacramento at eight o'clock in the morning.  The service was maintained, even in bad weather conditions.

The first mail by Pony Express reached Sacramento on  13 April 1859.  At that time the company employed 300 people, 80 of whom were riders whose average performance was about 75 miles.  There is a record of one who rode 384 miles without stopping for meals and to change horses at stations.  Prior to the advent of the Pony Express the newspapers had succeeded in having a telegraph wire run from San Francisco to Stockton and thence through the San Joaquin Valley and over the Tehachapi's to Los Angeles, the idea being to anticipate the arrival in San Francisco of the southern stage.  But the endeavor failed to produce the improvements expected.  The most news the local papers received through the Pony Express was their hair-breadth escapes from Indians and hold-up men. Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hickok and other of their calibre were among the riders.