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As the Pony Express mail service existed only briefly in 1860 and 1861, few examples of Pony Express mail survive. Contributing to the scarcity of Pony Express mail is that the cost to send a 1 ⁄ 2-ounce (14 g) letter was $5.00 [37] at the beginning (equivalent to $170 in 2023 [38], or 2 1 ⁄ 2 days of semi-skilled labor). [17]
It shares lesser-known facts and trivia about the Pony Express, from the horses, saddles, station houses that made the postal system work. [ 4 ] It reenacts how famous Frontiermen from the 1860s such as Buffalo Bill were affected by the creation and operation of the Pony Express .
Alexander Majors (October 4, 1814 – January 13, 1900) was an American businessman, who along with William Hepburn Russell and William B. Waddell founded the Pony Express, based in St. Joseph, Missouri. This was one of the westernmost points east of the Missouri River from its upper portion beyond that state. It was a major supply point for ...
The Pony Express national President Pam Dixon-Simmons galloped into Old Sacramento and came to a hard stop as the final rider to complete the relay of the 10-day long journey from St. Joseph ...
William Bradford Waddell (1807–1872) is often credited along with Alexander Majors and William Hepburn Russell as the founders, owners, and operators of the Pony Express. He is described as "phlegmatic, stoical, inclined to sulk if displeased, a cautious penny-pincher, and unable to reach a decision without ponderous deliberation."
The Pony Express route for mail delivery by animals was demarcated into five divisions from west-to-east in the Sacramento Valley, the Sierra Nevada, the Great Basin, the Rocky Mountains, and the Great Plains:
Each major city along the way celebrated as the Pony Express rider passed through. On April 14, 1860, at about 1 a.m., the Pony Express from St. Joseph arrived in San Francisco. The east-bound rider left San Francisco April 3 and made it to St. Josephs on April 13. The Pony Express was active. [11]
The Pony Express used the technique of riders changing horses at stations approximately 10 miles (16 km) apart to maximize speed. Many of the towns along US 50 originally served as stations along the Pony Express. [42] The original numbered designation of this route, which appeared on Nevada Highway maps as far back as 1919, was State Route 2. [43]