The Pony Express

Author's Note: This is a research paper I wrote for Social Studies on the Pony Express. I don't like historical fiction so it is written partially in second person and partially as a narrator on a TV documentary. Comments appreciated!

You walk into your living room, bored.

“There’s nothing to do here.” You say aloud to no one. No one can even hear you; you’re alone in your house. You look around as if hoping that something interesting will simply pop up. Your eyes light upon the TV remote. You reach out your arm to grab it, quickly clicking the button to activate the device. After surfing through a few channels and finding nothing good to watch you decide on the history channel.

“At least if it’s boring it’ll put me to sleep.” You explain aloud. There is still no one who can hear you but you continue to speak anyway. Then you turn to the TV as it begins a documentary on the Pony Express.

Remember a time in the years before the Civil War. No cars. No planes. Railroads only beginning to be built. People are rapidly moving west in hopes of a better life. If you knew some of these westward travelers surely you’d like to be able to keep in contact with them.

“Well duh.” You say to the TV, as if the narrator can hear you. The narrator continues because of course he hasn’t heard you.

You would try telegraph but lines were still being built to connect the east and west. You could send your mail by boat or stagecoach but going that way would take twenty days simply for it to be delivered. However there is one more option. The Pony Express. An 1,800 mile[1] trek from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California[2] that would cut the delivery time in half.

You widen your eyes in an exaggerated display of surprise.

“Ten days? Wow if that wasn’t so lame I’d be impressed.” Still the narrator doesn’t hear you and so continues.

But this marvel is not without cost. At its inception in 1860[3] the Pony Express employed a total of 75 men and owned 600 horses[4]. Every one of these were needed to provide such a speedy service. In order to move as quickly as possible riders had to change horses ever ten to fifteen miles[5] and riders passed off the mail about every sixty miles[6]. And there was trouble on the road. Many times the riders had to pass through the territory of hostile Indians.

“Native Americans.” you grumble. You’ve always be a stickler for proper names. But once again the narrator ignores you and continues.

This service continued through good weather and bad. And there are tales of men traveling over 300 miles without even stopping for food.

“Now that is impressive.” you concede.

Because of their dangerous job these men had to be very skilled, both in horsemanship and in knowledge of the Indians.

“Native Americans.” you correct a bit louder this time.

They also had salaries of $100-$150[7] to compensate them for the dangerous occupation. Now this may have been a successful business if not for two things. First the average cost to mail a parcel by Pony Express was $5 per half ounce[8], not enough to pay all of the riders. And the other was the transcontinental telegraph. This was a set of telegraph wires stretching about 2,000 miles, connecting the east and west coasts. This made the Pony Express obsolete as the wires could send messages nearly instantaneously.

As the program ends you realize you’ve been transfixed for a full hour.

“Never expected horses and mail to be this interesting.” even when you are alone you continue to feign disinterest. Slowly you stand, stretch, and decide to take a short trip to the local library to see if you can find any books on this Pony Express.

[1] (Fact Monster)

[2] (National Park Service)

[3] (National Park Service)

[4] (San Francisco News Letter)

[5] (Fact Monster)

[6] (San Francisco News Letter)

[7] (Noonan)

[8] (Noonan)

Bibliography

Fact Monster. "pony express." n.d. Fact Monster. Article. 27 Feburary 2013.

National Park Service. "Pony Express History & Culture." 25 Feburary 2013. National Park Service. Article. 27 Feburary 2013.

Noonan, John. "On This Day: First Transcontinental Telegraph Ends Run of Pony Express." 24 October 2011. findingDulcinea. Article. 27 Feburary 2013.

San Francisco News Letter. "The Virtual Mueseum of the City of San Fransisco." September 1925. When the Pony Express was in Vogue. News Article. 27 Feburary 2013.