36 Facts About Pony

1. Pony Express Fact 29: Their company was sold at auction to Ben Holladay in March 1862.

2. Pony Express Fact 25: Youngest Rider: According to legend Bronco Charlie Miller was eleven years old when he first rode for the mail service.

3. Pony Express Fact 23: It was important to keep the weight on the horse down and the specially designed saddle with its mochila weighed less than 13 pounds.

4. Pony Express Fact 21: Wells Fargo became the temporary agent for the western route until the Overland Mail Company took over.

5. Pony Express Fact 13: During the 18 months it operated riders had covered 650,000 miles and carried 34,753 pieces of mail.

6. Pony Express Fact 11: Dangers: The hazards and dangers included attacks from hostile Native Americans, robbers, extreme weather conditions, hazardous terrains.

7. Pony Express Fact 7: Each station employed two men who attended the horses.

8. Pony Express Fact 5: Security: The only keys for the mail pockets of the mochila were at St Joseph and Sacramento, and only the agents at each end could open the mochila.

9. Pony Express Fact 3: Every rider had to take utmost care of the mochila that contained the mail quick and efficient when transferring from one horse to another.

10. Pony Express Fact 1: Riders were given a uniform of red shirts and blue pants but these were often discarded and replaced with buckskins.

11. On June 16, 1860, about ten weeks after the Pony Express began operations, Congress authorized the a bill instructing the Secretary of the Treasury to subsidize the building of a transcontinental telegraph line to connect the Missouri River and the Pacific Coast.

12. Pony Express could carry mail from Missouri to California in just ten days.

13. Pony Express began in Saint Joseph, Missouri, the western end of the nation's rail system, and ended in Sacramento, California.

14. The Pony Express trail was 2,000 miles long and could be traveled in eight to 10 days by a series of riders.

15. Pony Express used an intricate relay system of riders and horses to carry the mail over a route that passed through the present states of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California.

16. Pony Express route was nearly 2,000 miles long overland, had about 190 stations (mostly in Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada), and required about 10 days to cover.

17. The Pony Express only lasted 18 months, because the telegraph made delivering messages even faster.

18. Pony Express was a company that carried mail across difficult terrain on horseback from Missouri to California.

19. The Pony Express was in business for only 18 months, from April 1860-October 1861.

20. Pony Express trail started in St Joseph, Missouri and ended in Sacramento, California, a distance of nearly 2,000 miles.

21. Pony Express was a way to deliver mail quickly across the mountains and deserts between Missouri and California.

22. Over the course of its operation, the Pony Express cost its owners $30,000 per month, or $480,000 for its duration.

23. The Pony Express was short-lived and its financial collapse essentially ruined its backers.

24. The Pony Express dramatically filled that gap by promising to deliver mail across the country from the end of the telegraph in the East to the start of the telegraph in the West, in 10 days time or less.

25. Pony Express was in business of one sort or another between April 3, 1860, and October 26, 1861.

26. Pony Express summary: Three men in the mid-1800s had an idea to open up a mail delivery system that reached from the Midwest all the way to California.

27. Pony Express co-founder Alexander Majors asked each of his employees to take an oath saying that they wouldn't curse, drink, or fight.

28. The Pony Express was by far the most effective way to communicate cross-country at the time—at least until the telegraph came along.

29. The first book dedicated solely to the Pony Express was not published until 1900.

30. The Pony Express announced its closure on October 26, 1861, two days after the transcontinental telegraph reached Salt Lake City and connected Omaha, Nebraska, and Sacramento, California.

31. In the brief history that the Pony Express operated only once did the mail not go through.

32. On November 7, 1860, a Pony Express rider departed Fort Kearny, Nebraska Territory with the election results.

33. The United States Postal Service used "Pony Express" as a trademark for postal services in the US.

34. Pony Express was a mail service delivering messages, newspapers, and mail.

35. Pony Express ceased operations when the telegraph wires were linked in October 1860.

36. The Pony Express was the brainchild of a freighting company owned by William H Russel, Alexander Majors and William B Waddell.