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| www.laurirobinson.blogspot.com |
"Young, skinny,
wiry fellows, not over 18. Must be expert riders. Willing to risk death daily.
Orphans preferred." Made up the ads for Pony Express riders published in
newspapers and on flyers throughout the west.
The approaching Civil War created a need for a speedy way to
get mail from Missouri to California and was the driving force behind the
creation of The Pony Express. Though it only lasted little over a year, the
success of the program captivated attention and set
forth the need for congress to appropriate funding for a nationwide, reliable
and all inclusive postal system.
A special light-weight saddle was
created for the riders, and initially the cost to send mail averaged $5.00 per ½
ounce, but was later reduced. The two thousand mile distance between St.
Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, California was divided into 75-100 mile
sections. Riders would change horses every 10-15 miles depending on the terrain
before handing over his ‘freight’ to a fresh rider for the next hundred miles.
The rides took an average of ten days each way.
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| Buffalo Bill Cody age 19 |
Buffalo Bill Cody, at the age of 15 was a Pony Express rider
in Wyoming , and wrote this passage about one of his
adventures in: Cody William F., The Life
of Buffalo Bill (1879, republished 1994)…
“As I was leaving Horse Creek one
day, a party of fifteen Indians 'jumped me' in a sand ravine about a mile west
of the station. They fired at me repeatedly, but missed their mark. I was
mounted on a roan California horse - the fleetest steed I had. Putting spurs
and whip to him, and lying flat on his back, I kept straight on for Sweetwater
Bridge - eleven miles distant - instead of trying to turn back to Horse Creek.
The Indians came on in hot pursuit, but my horse soon got away from them, and
ran into the station two miles ahead of them. The stock-tender had been killed
there that morning, and all the stock had been driven off by the Indians, and
as I was therefore unable to change horses, I continued on to Ploutz's Station
- twelve miles further - thus making twenty-four miles straight run with one
horse. I told the people at Ploutz's what had happened at Sweetwater Bridge,
and with a fresh horse went on and finished the trip without any further
adventure.”
Buffalo Bill also wrote about Wild Bill Hickock who was a
Pony Express rider, too, in Kansas. He claimed one of Wild Bill’s adventures
included a day when his relay station was being robbed. The station master had
already been killed when Wild Bill arrived, and after saving the man’s widow
from five robbers, Wild Bill stayed with her until the stage arrived before
galloping off to make up for lost time.
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| A Pony Express Rider |
Pony Express riders were paid $100 a month, which would
equate to approximately $2,500 in today.
Though it changed the west, and initiated a mail courier system, the
Pony Express was a financial failure for the company that operated it. The
initial undertaking alone involved 125 riders, 180 stations, and 400 horses
besides other personnel. Numbers vary as to how many young men actually rode
for the Pony Express, but at any given time during its existence there was an
average of 80 Pony Express riders traveling the routes, and each rider had been
presented a Bible upon hire.