One rider completed a 380-mile run in less than two days. Instead, the service was mainly used to deliver newspaper reports, government dispatches and business documents, most of which were printed on tissue-thin paper to keep costs (and weight) down. Prices were later reduced to just $1, but they still remained too high for everyday mail. In its early days the service cost $5 for every half-ounce of mail-the equivalent of some $130 today. The speed of the Pony Express didn’t come cheap. Ordinary people almost never used the Pony Express. At each relief station, riders would simply grab the mochilla off one mount and then throw it over the next, allowing them to switch horses in the span of just two minutes. It featured four padlocked pockets-three for mail and one for the rider’s timecard-and was capable of holding up to 20 pounds of cargo. This consisted of a leather cover that was draped over the saddle and held in place by the rider’s weight. To cut down on weight and facilitate swift horse and rider changes, the Pony Express used a special type of mailbag known as a “mochilla”-the Spanish word for knapsack. Mail was carried in a specially designed saddlebag.
Liquor flowed freely at relief stations, and an eyewitness named Richard Burton reported that he “scarcely ever saw a sober rider.” 5. In exchange for their $100-150 monthly salaries-a substantial sum for the time-Pony Express riders were expected to take a loyalty oath that read: “I do hereby swear, before the Great and Living God, that during my engagement, and while 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.” Those who broke the rules risked being dismissed without pay, but it appears that few Pony Express employees followed the pledge to the letter. Riders were required to take a loyalty oath. One man named “Bronco” Charlie Miller claimed he was only 11 years old when he first joined the Pony Express. Their average age was around 20, but it wasn’t unusual for teenagers as young as 14 to be hired. Rather than burly cowboys, most of the riders were small, wiry men who weighed between 100 and 125 pounds-roughly the same size as a modern horseracing jockey. Since speed was its main goal, the Pony Express went to great lengths to keep its horses’ loads as light as possible. There was a weight limit for Pony Express riders. Though hailed in the press for its efficiency and adventurous spirit, the Pony Express eventually folded in October 1861, having lost as much as $200,000. The temporary shutdown cost the company some $75,000, and it continued to hemorrhage cash over the next few months due to high operations costs and its failure to secure a government mail contract. The company began making deliveries in April 1860, but service ground to a halt just a few weeks later when the Pyramid Lake War erupted between the United States and the Paiute Indians. It was a financial flop.ĭespite its enduring place in Old West legend, the Pony Express never turned a profit during its year and a half history. The company’s personal best came in March 1861, when riders carried the inaugural address of Abraham Lincoln from Nebraska to California in just seven days, 17 hours. The relay system allowed mail to criss-cross the frontier in record time. Lone horsemen would ride between stations at breakneck pace, switching mounts every 10-15 miles and then handing their cargo off to a new courier after 75-100 miles. Waddell and Alexander Majors set up a string of nearly 200 relief stations across what is now Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California. To achieve this remarkable speed, company owners William H. The Pony Express, meanwhile, had an average delivery time of just 10 days. In the mid-19th century, California-bound mail had to either be taken overland by a 25-day stagecoach or spend months inside a ship during a long sea voyage. The Pony Express was more than twice as fast as its competitors.
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