before the telegraph before the telephone there were mail services either by runners by sea or
by horse communication through written documents had several different methods of travel but to the
united states which had just secured its nation of two oceans a service on a previously unheard
of scale was required the start of that service was the pony express an overland mail delivery
service that could cross the distance from saint joseph missouri to sacramento california
in just 10 days while only active for 18 months it was integral in shaping america's west and still
influences american culture to this day so join me as we explore the story of the pony express
and discover what remains of its legacy i'm your host ryan socash and you're watching it's history
expansion westward was one of the driving forces behind the american revolution
its foreign policy remained focused on that goal in its first years for example one of the most
prolific dealings of the time was the 1803 louisiana purchase which doubled the size of
the country with the signing of a document these interactions were not always peaceful for example
in the war of 1812 american troops attempted and failed an invasion of canada in fact the louisiana
purchase was one of the few examples of peaceful expansion be it one that involved driving natives
further out west the 1848 treaty of guadalupe delgo which ended the mexican-american war
included the mexican secession which turned 55 of mexico's territory over to the united states
this territory included present-day arizona california new mexico colorado nevada utah
and texas and crucially completed one of america's founding goals to become a nation of two oceans
these expansions were all very bloody affairs killing hundreds of thousands of people
in the pursuit of drawing lines on a map however to most people the idea of westward expansion
doesn't invoke images of blood-soaked trails of tears but that of cowboys outlaws horses
and trains so considering the reality you might be asking yourself where do we get this cartoonish
image of westward expansion well the obvious answer is hollywood and spaghetti western movies
it goes back further than that they got those ideas from the pony express the united states
government was always brainstorming about ways to encourage westward expansion but many people of
the nation didn't need any incentive the prospect of driving out west and making a new home and name
was more than enough to entice settlers but others also had their reasons for example
the 1847 mormon exodus saw tens of thousands of people facing religious persecution move
out of the mexican-controlled utah only to have the united states come to them once more a year
later the 1849 california gold rush also brought hundreds of thousands out to the pacific coast
seeking riches in the riverbeds be they fleeing seeking fortune or just a better lot in life than
they had there was now a population of hundreds of thousands of americans on the western frontier
many of these people wanted to send out letters updating their loved ones on their situation
which posed a big logistical problem it was hard enough migrating out west in the first place
and now there was a need for consistent round trips from east to west and there really wasn't
any other efficient way to do it at this point the panama canal was still 50 years away and
water travel would have required circumnavigating the entire southern american continent regardless
there were attempts at both overland stagecoach companies operating horse-drawn mail carts
across the frontier trails steamships either circumnavigated south america or took overland
transfer by mule and canoes across the isthmus of panama or the isthmus of tuontepec in mexico
predictably these messages had their problems steamships frequently encountered problems
circumnavigating the south american continent simply due to how long the journey was as it took
multiple months at best overland transfers didn't fare much better as travelers crossing often faced
malaria regardless these messages arrived in a span of months and cost the government 700 000
or 25.5 million dollars in today's money every year and only returns 200 000 or 7.27 million
dollars today in that same time metric all things considered this was hardly efficient even by the
standards of the time the overland route faced similar hardships the first attempt in 1851
had george char penning and absalon woodward contracting with the us government for monthly
deliveries between sacramento california and salt lake city utah through the carson valley
they assembled basic relay stations along the route making the trip a bit easier from there
stagecoaches took the messages from salt lake city to independence missouri this mail service became
the main method and although it often suffered from bad weather especially in the winter as
well as attacks from native americans encountered along the way it seemed to be the best they could
do for the time however when these operations fell through due in part to woodward dying in a journey
from sacramento to salt lake city in 1951 another mail company took over with a new southern route
this route took mail from st louis missouri down to little rock arkansas through el paso
texas westward to yuma arizona then on to los angeles and san francisco a 2700 mile journey
over a 25-day schedule this sufficed for a while but a major conflict brewing in the south
made the system unattainable towards the end of the 1850s northern and southern tensions
boiled to new heights and when it came to the mail news of these tensions needed to be communicated
quickly or there could be dire consequences for the western holdings so the politicians
of california took to brainstorming a better way senator william m gwynne is often attributed with
suggesting the prevailing idea to a private freighting firm russell majors and waddell
that idea was the pony express a horse relay across the entire american frontier surprisingly
it wasn't the only horse relay that covered this type of distance throughout history the longest
and first horse relay of this scale belonged to the mongolians who under genghis khan operated
between stations 25 miles apart with one message traveling upwards of 300 miles in one day it was
also done before in america as newspapers used horse relays from new york and boston in the
latter half of the 1820s however america hadn't tried something this big before and it wasn't even
the only or best idea for communication at the time that goes to the telegraph
as its expansion coincided with these times but electric telegraph cables took time to build
and with the south about to secede from the union there was no time to spare so by january of 1860
implementation was well underway and scheduled to start in april the resulting route covered 1966
miles half of which followed the oregon trail starting in saint joseph missouri it passed
through kansas nebraska colorado wyoming and utah from salt lake city the path deviated from
the oregon trail going southwest into nevada and ending in sacramento california the route promised
letters and newspapers to travel across the trail in just 10 days requiring the riders to ride
their horses at top speeds at all times a downside of this was the horse got tired extremely quickly
forcing riders to change horses every 10 to 15 miles terrain dependent to accommodate this the
company established 197 relay stations ryder took his special male designed saddle bag called a
mochila attached it to a new mount and departed as quickly as possible if the rider himself was too
tired to continue having ridden all day and night there were several home stations across the trail
where he could pass the mochilla to a new rider afterward the station supplied him with food
and lodging to rest most of these stations especially in utah and nevada's barren lands
had to be built from complete scratch the first ride of the pony express took place on april
the 3rd 1860 with the first mochilla including a letter from president james buchanan to governor
john downey of california with congratulations on the pony express it arrived in sacramento
at 5 45 pm on april the 13th exactly 10 days after departing to a great deal of fanfare
and well it had not been the first horse relay of its kind or even the longest it was certainly the
fastest many of these riders were young some in their early teens but regardless of that they took
on some of the most important jobs in the country and to emphasize this point russell majors and
waddell required every rider to take an oath in which they swore off profanity intoxication
and conflicts with their co-workers the oath went as follows in every respect i will conduct myself
honest be faithful to my duties and so direct all my acts as to win the confidence of my employer
so help me god this commitment did not go unnoticed by the general population either
riders of the pony express quickly secured special social status in american society
as they were essential in connecting the nation the very press they served built them up as
heroes enshrining some forever in the annuals of history one of the best-known riders was
william cody or better known as buffalo bill among his many exploits was the 22-hour ride in wyoming
from red butte station to pacific springs and back covering around 300 miles in one near continuous
stretch while authors and publicity agents of the time mythologized many of his adventures
several accounts confirm his heroic escapes from the highwaymen and natives alike and this is just
the tip of the iceberg another prolific rider was pony bob haslam who ran from friday's station
on the southwest shore of lake tahoe out to buckland station then 90 miles through
the hostile territory of the paiute when another rider did not wish to face immediately afterward
he replaced a missing rider from a return voyage and rescued a station master from indians
in total traveling 360 miles in just 40 hours on horseback there was also jack keatley who
rode 340 miles in 31 hours without rest arriving at the final destination asleep in the saddle so
with all these storied figures it's a small wonder that the idea of the wild west entered
popular culture as such a mainstay no matter how long the pony express stayed in operation
these stories of grandeur were irresistible to the public and the press that served it in
18 months of operation the pony express had turned the concept of the american frontier
into a whimsical land of cowboys and indians where daring acts of heroism came with every letter and
those letters always came in there was only one lost machila in all of the 18 months of operation
however the pony express was a stop gap measure by design as during its operational years the
trans-continental telegraph line had always been under construction as mentioned earlier it was
the best method of communication it just needed time to develop so when the telegraph line was
finally completed on october the 24th of 1861 the pony express seized operations just two days later
this certainly wasn't the only reason as russell majors and waddell had a financial situation that
was rapidly falling apart not to mention rates were extremely high the going rate towards the end
was a dollar per ounce that would be 32 dollars and 24 cents in today's money making it generally
unavailable for the wider public so for the most part the pony express was utilized by businesses
newspapers and politicians by its closure in 1861 its total cost were seven hundred thousand dollars
or twenty two point five million dollars in today's money for a profit of just five hundred
thousand dollars or 16 million dollars today this deficit was evident from the start so russell
accepted stolen government bonds to balance the ledger the law caught up with him in december
of 1860 when new york police forces arrested him majors had prepared for bankruptcy even before the
bond scandal and despite once being untouchable in business the firm fell apart but regardless of
its financial situation the pony expresses only failure was its inability to turn a wider profit
in 18 months it made 308 complete runs covering a distance of 616 000 miles and with that distance
one could circle the earth over 30 times not including the one lost machila it carried
34 753 letters and always met its deadlines come rain or shine but what happened to the lion's
physical infrastructure well the stations used by the pony express still stand today many being
older than the states they occupy there are three in missouri 13 in kansas 38 in nebraska
two in colorado 43 in wyoming 27 in utah 47 in nevada and 24 stations in california and
beyond those physical remnants its legacy is most certainly not lost as every june people
from all across the country come together to ride across the pony express's trail again carrying a
machila as the riders once did in the times of the old despite being in service for only 18 months
the pony express changed the nation's views of westward expansion it created the romanticized
idea of the wild west by funneling adventures of grand heroism to people all across the country
and eventually the world the trail still remains to this day as a reminder of the glory days of
the west and while you may or may not have seen a shootout at high noon back in the day
you definitely wouldn't miss the pony express pulling into town carrying the stuff of legend in
its saddle and mail too so keep this story alive by sharing subscribe to its history for new videos
every thursday and saturday and until next time this is your host ryan socash signing off