This video is sponsored in part by Noom I’m Mr. Beat. I’m delivering this message
to you via the internet. But, it really would be nice if I could just write you all a nice
letter. I sometimes get letters from viewers like you, and it really is super special.
Why? Because it takes extra time to write a letter, to put it in an envelope,
to frustratingly attempt to find a stamp somewhere, and to walk down the street to actually
put that letter in the mailbox. By the way, you can mail me a letter. Check out that PO BOX YEauh!
Now, it can take some time for your mail to be delivered. Days,
even weeks in some cases if the mail has to travel to the other side of the planet.
Mail today mostly gets around relatively quickly, though,
via planes, trains, and automobiles. Heck, if you don’t mind paying a little extra,
today you can get a package delivered from New York City to Los Angeles in no more than two days.
But what about before planes, trains, and automobiles?
Well, usually it was stagecoaches and steamboats. Instead of taking two days for that package to get
from New York City to Los Angeles, it might take up to two months. If you were lucky, you might be
able to get it delivered in one month, but that was the overland route, which was more dangerous.
If you got in an accident, like...I don’t know...getting run over by a wagon wheel, there
was no hospital nearby you could go to. Or if you got the measles, you could be hundreds of miles
away from the nearest doctor. Not that that doctor could save you if you DID find them, anyway.
But let’s go back. Beginning in the 1500s, people began to build
canals in certain parts of the world to transport stuff more quickly, but those were MASSIVE,
expensive projects, and ain’t no way they were building a canal across North America.
In the early 1800s, the British developed the modern railroad, and by the 1830s folks were
building the first commercial railroads around the world, including in the United States.
However, those early railroads were also MASSIVE, expensive, and INEFFICIENT projects. Many of
them were not profitable and railroad companies often relied heavily on government money just to
function. Plus, the earliest commercial railroads were slowww, barely getting over 20 miles per
hour. Even by the 1850s, most American trains rarely went faster than 50 miles per hour.
But dad gomit, Americans were moving west. During the California Gold Rush, thousands
of prospectors, investors, and entrepreneurs made their way there. In 1850, California
became a state, Meanwhile, thousands more settlers followed the California Trail, the Mormon Trail,
and the Oregon Trail to settle other parts of the West. Oregon became a state in 1859. By that time,
its population was more than 50,000 and California’s population was already approaching
400,000. But you see, there was this big gap between heavy American settlement in the East,
in this area approximately, and the West, in this area approximately. In between,
you had various American Indian nations and scattered American forts, but other than that,
in the 1850s most Americans had skipped over settling this land
and so it was the frontier. Oh, and I forgot to mention the GIANT MOUNTAINS. There were a lot of
big freaking mountains out there. So anyway, there was this disconnection of sorts.
That’s where three men saw an opportunity. William Russell, Alexander Majors,
and William Waddell were three dudes who were already successful working together
in the transportation industry, and created a new business that would deliver stuff between Missouri
and California. They already had sweet federal government contracts from before,
and convinced the federal government to give them some more of that sweet federal government money
to get mail quickly delivered across the country. Russell, Majors, and Waddell decided to build a
trail between St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, California. since that’s where the Hannibal and
St. Joseph Railroad, which was the first railroad to cross Missouri, ended. In fact,
in 1860, St. Joseph felt like it was at the western edge of the country in many ways.
West of there usually meant at least a three-month journey full of hardships.
Anyway, Russell, Majors, and Waddell organized and established an operation in less than two
months. They built a trail connected by five divisions: St. Joseph to Fort Kearny, Fort
Kearny to Horseshoe station, Horseshoe Station to Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City to Roberts Creek,
and Roberts Creek to Sacramento. At each connection, a superintendent. Along the trail,
between 153 and 190 stations. They hired around 200 stationmasters.
But they would not use stagecoaches to deliver stuff. Oh no. Something much more magnificent.
Before we get to that, like I said earlier, this video
is sponsored in part by Noom. I like to think I’m in decent shape since I regularly exercise,
but sometimes I can get off track with my diet. So I’ve tried out Noom these past couple weeks,
and it has been great with providing resources to keep me eating healthier, like recipes. Noom
uses science and a psychology-based curriculum to help me meet my nutrition goals. I even get daily
lessons, like the Unprocess Your Diet Lesson, which has helped me become more aware of how
processed foods produce addictive-like behaviors. I’ve had friends and family tell me that Noom
is just way better than anything else they’ve ever used to try to get healthier. You should try out
Noom yourself. In minutes you’ll get a custom plan. Go to the link in the description of this
video to take your free Noom evaluation. Ok, back to the content. So
if they didn’t use stagecoaches to deliver packages, what did they use?
Instead of the stagecoach, Russell, Majors, and Waddell proposed just getting a bunch
of fast horses and small riders with specially designed saddlebags called mochilas. After all,
their goal was to deliver the mail from St. Joe’s to Sacramento in 10 days, although many naysayers
had said that was impossible. They gathered between 400 and 500 of the fastest horses.
And yes, some were ponies. They were smaller but because of that, they were quicker. And yes,
the riders were smaller, too. In fact, no riders were hired who weighed more than 125 pounds.
Additionally, in order to reduce weight on each horse’s back, they were only allowed to carry the
mail, a water sack, and a revolver with them on their journey. Speaking of their journey,
each rider would be expected to travel between 75 miles and 100 miles(120–160
km)for a typical route. The horses, however, would be changed out every 10 to 15 miles (15 to 24km).
By the end of March 1860, Russell, Majors, and Waddell had hired 80 riders. It was pretty easy
to attract these riders, because even though the job would be tough, the pay would be pretty good.
They got $125 a month as pay. Well hey remember...inflation, alright? That’s like $4200
a month in today’s money I think. Uh...look, they were paid well above average back then ok? Anyway,
Majors, who was very religious, gave each rider a Bible after they were
hired and he required them to swear an oath: “I, ... , do hereby swear, before the Great and
Living God, that during my engagement, and while I am 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."
Ok, well it’s likely that riders regularly broke this oath, especially the profane
language and fighting part. Oh and the drinking part. They definitely drank a lot of alcohol.
The Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company, which later became more famously
known as The Pony Express, officially began operations on April 3, 1860 when the first
westbound rider left St. Joseph and the first eastbound rider left Sacramento. I’m standing
here at the eastern terminus of the Pony Express. It was actually just a big stable where those
magnificent horses were kept who went on the journey. Here is the actual location of where
the first rider left St. Joseph. That first rider was likely a young dude named Johnny Fry, by the
way. Today it’s a wonder museum that you can visit here in St. Joseph, Missouri. .And here are actual
letters carried from those first two Pony Express trips. As Russell, Majors, and Waddell predicted,
the trips took approximately 10 days. But uh...if you were one of the folks who actually had your
mail delivered in those first two trips, it would be EXPENSIVE. In today’s money, it would
have cost you around $150 to send a half ounce letter. That said, it did get cheaper later on.
By the end of the Pony Express, it cost around $30 in today’s money to send a half ounce letter.
The managers of the Pony Express told their riders that the mochila was the most important.
At ALL COSTS, protect that freaking mochila that had the mail in it. Riders rode day and night,
summer and winter. It really was nonstop, even through the treacherous Sierra Nevada. For the
most part, most riders had a smooth journey. On average, they covered 190 miles a day,
with an average speed of around 8 miles per hour. One reason why they covered
so much ground so quickly is because riders usually changed horses every 10 to 15 miles.
There were disruptions. For example, in May, just a month after operations began, the Pony Express
riders found themselves in a war zone during the Paiute War, which mostly took place near Pyramid
Lake in Utah Territory. However, contrary to popular belief, it was more dangerous being a
stationmaster during that time than an actual rider. American Indians ambushed several Pony
Express stations throughout the war, killing as many as 16 station workers. Though the evidence
is shaky, possibly four Pony Express riders were also killed during it. The best documented case
we have is of Billy Tate, a 14-year old rider who Paiute Indians chased down. Now, Tate had a gun,
and the Paiute just had bows and arrows, and supposedly, before they killed him with arrows,
he had killed seven of them with his gun. And if you’re surprised that a boy as young as 14
did this job, the youngest Pony Express rider on record was 11-year old Charlie “Bronco” Miller.
That dude deserves his own video, for crying out loud. Apparently this is a picture of him when
he was 11. Just kidding, it was taken much later in life. He was the last surviving Pony Express
rider, dying in 1955 at the age of 105. During World War II, he tried to fight as a soldier but
the Army wouldn’t let him since he was, ya know, in his nineties. He also used to go around with
Buffalo Bill Cody as part of his Wild West show and shared his Pony Express adventures.
Speaking of Buffalo Bill, whose real name was William Cody, he is probably the most famous
Pony Express rider of all, and he’s a big reason why there’s so much mythology surrounding the Pony
Express. However, um...he probably wasn’t actually a Pony Express rider. Now, he did likely work as
a messenger for Russell, Majors, and Waddell, but there is no evidence of him actually carrying the
mail for the Pony Express. Despite that, Buffalo Bill used to brag that he once rode 384 miles in a
single run. Total bull crap. Now, he was likely stealing the thunder from Robert “Pony Bob”
Haslam, who actually did ride 380 miles straight between Lake Tahoe and Fort Churchill and back,
with only nine hours of rest, during the Paiute War. That’s a picture of Pony Bob several decades
later. Another notable Pony Express rider is Jack Keetley, who rode for the Pony Express during its
entire existence. Apparently HE once rode 340 miles straight in 31 hours without stopping
to rest or eat. At the end of the ride, he was supposedly taken from his saddle sound asleep.
The oldest Pony Express rider was possibly Major Howard Egan,
who was actually the Superintendent of the Division from Salt Lake City to Robert’s Creek,
but he filled in as a substitute rider when others didn’t show up. He was 45.
The Pony Express only operated for 19 months, but during that time
it developed a reputation as the absolute fastest way to get information from the East Coast to the
West Coast. One example of this is the speed of delivering the news of the 1860 presidential
election results. Thanks to the Pony Express, California’s newspapers were able to report
Abraham Lincoln’s victory just 7 days and 17 hours after the East Coast papers, a record at the time.
However, there were two main reasons why The Pony Express had such a brief run.
The first reason is probably no surprise. On October 26, 1861, San Francisco was now in direct
contact with New York City. Why? The completion of the first transcontinental telegraph line. Now,
communication was almost instant. In fact, for most of the span of the Pony Express’s existence,
workers were putting up that transcontinental telegraph line as the riders rode past them. The
second reason why the Pony Express ended was that it never made any money. Like,
at all. Despite getting HEAVY government subsidies, it was a complete financial
failure for Russell, Majors, and Waddell, costing $200,000 while only making $90,000.
Today, the legacy of the Pony Express lives on. First of all, while I visited the Pony Express
Museum in St. Joe’s, there are actually lots of museums and historical sites you can visit
along where the trail used to be. That’s also where you find much of the approximately 250
known examples of Pony Express mail that still exist today. There’s even
still original segments of the actual trail that have been preserved. So check ‘em out and stuff.
The Pony Express was the first fast mail line across the North American continent.
Though it was short-lived, it was extremely influential. Ever since it ended,
it has been romanticized as a big part of American culture, and again a big reason why
is Buffalo Bill Cody. The Pony Express has been featured in many movies and TV shows,
and if you ask most Americans today about it, they know all about its legendary status.
The Pony Express symbolizes the ideals that many
appreciate when they think about the “Wild West” or American culture in general: freedom,
innovation, individualism, grit and determination. Above all, embracing adventure.
thanks to Cindy Daffron from the pony express national museum here in St. Joseph, Missouri for
letting me interview her and sharing her knowledge also this episode complements an episode of jobs
elite that i just released my podcast that's right you can check out the link in the description that
episode is about the now obsolete job of being a pony express writer and what it was like so i go
into more detail with my co-host Helen Hong so check it out and finally which museum should i
visit next and how should i get there should i fly a plane should i ride a train should i drive a car
or should i ride a horse let me know down below thanks for watching