42 Facts About The Pony Express

Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders.

When replaced by the telegraph, the Pony Express quickly became romanticized and became part of the lore of the American West.

The founders of the Pony Express hoped to win an exclusive government mail contract, but that did not come about.

The Pony Express presented each rider with a special-edition Bible and required this oath, which they were required to sign.

In 1860, the roughly 186 Pony Express stations were about 10 miles apart along the Pony Express route.

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Alexander Majors, one of the founders of the Pony Express, had acquired more than 400 horses for the project.

The Pony Express selected horses from around the west, paying an average of $200.

William Russell, senior partner of Russell, Majors, and Waddell, and one of the biggest investors in the Pony Express, used the 1860 presidential election, of Abraham Lincoln, as a way to promote the Pony Express and how fast it could deliver the US Mail.

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

Meanwhile, a raiding party attacked Williams Station, a Pony Express station located on the then Carson River under present-day Lake Lahontan, not to be confused with the large endorheic Pleistocene lake of the same name.

The Paiute War cost the Pony Express company about $75,000 in livestock and station equipment, not to mention the loss of life.

Pony Express had an estimated 80 riders traveling east or west along the route at any given time.

The Pony Express rode all the way to Sportsman Hall Station, where he gave his mochila filled with mail to Warren Upson.

Probably more than any other rider in the Pony Express, William Cody epitomizes the legend and the folklore, be it fact or fiction, of the Pony Express.

At age 15, Cody was on his way west to California when he met Pony Express agents along the way and signed on with the company.

The Pony Express was born in January 1840 in London, United Kingdom, and came to the United States as a teenager.

The Pony Express's greatest ride, 120 miles in 8 hours and 20 minutes while wounded, was an important contribution to the fastest trip ever made by the Pony Express.

The Pony Express had received the eastbound mail at Friday's Station.

The Pony Express Bob continued to work as a rider for Wells Fargo and Company after the Civil War, scouted for the US Army well into his 50s, and later accompanied his good friend "Buffalo Bill" Cody on a diplomatic mission to negotiate the surrender of Chief Sitting Bull in December 1890.

The Pony Express drifted in and out of public mention, but died in Chicago during the winter of 1912 in deep poverty after suffering a stroke.

The Pony Express was one of those who rode for the Pony Express during the entire 19 months of its existence.

The Pony Express had ridden 340 miles in 31 hours without stopping to rest or eat.

The Pony Express was a nephew of the superintendent of the stage line to Denver, called the "Pike's Peak Express".

Billy Tate was a 14-year-old Pony Express rider who rode the express trail in Nevada near Ruby Valley.

The Pony Express's body was found riddled with arrows, but was not scalped, a sign that the Paiutes honored their enemy.

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The Pony Express was with the Pioneer Party of 1847 that journeyed to the west to modern day Salt Lake City, Utah.

At the start of the Pony Express, he was appointed Superintendent of the Division from Salt Lake City to Robert's Creek which is in present day Nevada.

Horses of the Pony Express were purchased in Missouri, Iowa, California, and some western US territories.

Various types of horses ridden by riders of the Pony Express included Morgans and thoroughbreds, which were often used on the eastern end of the trail.

In 1844, years before the Pony Express came to St Joseph, Israel Landis opened a small saddle and harness shop there.

The Pony Express's business expanded as the town grew, and when the Pony Express came to town, Landis was the ideal candidate to produce saddles for the newly founded Pony Express.

From March 1861, the Pony Express ran mail only between Salt Lake City and Sacramento.

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.

In 1866, after the Civil War was over, Holladay sold the Pony Express assets along with the remnants of the Butterfield Stage to Wells Fargo for $1.

Sometimes mistaken for an actual stamp used by the Pony Express, the "Pony Express Stamp" issue was released in 1869 to honor the men who rode the long and sometimes dangerous journeys and to commemorate the service they provided for the nation.

Foundation of accountable Pony Express history rests in the few tangible areas where records, papers, letters, and mailings have yielded the most historical evidence.

Until the 1950s, most of what was known about the short-lived Pony Express was the product of a few accounts, hearsay, and folklore, generally true in their overall aspects, but lacking in verification in many areas for those who wanted to explore the history surrounding the founders, the various riders, and station keepers, or who were interested in stations or forts along the Pony Express route.

Settle's account is unique, as he was the first writer and historical researcher to make use of Pony Express founder William B Waddell's papers, now in a collection at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California.

Pony Express route was designated the Pony Express National Historic Trail August 3,1992, by an act of Congress.

From 1866 until 1889, the Pony Express logo was used by stagecoach and freight company Wells Fargo, which provided secure mail service.

Wells Fargo used the Pony Express logo for its guard and armored-car services.

Since 2001, the Pony Express logo is no longer used for security businesses, since the business has been sold.