Take A Ride Back To The Pony Express

My dad seemed to wear many different hats in his life time. He was a wonderful dad, an all around fix it man, he worked in peoples gardens, yards and often at plant nurseries, worked as hospital maintenance man but most of all one of his biggest jobs was that he worked for the United States Postal Service. His job was as a rural route mail carrier and he would drive a large part of the day making sure individuals got their mail. Perhaps this is why I have often found those that rode for the Pony Express so interesting

April celebrates the riders of the pony express. The unique mail delivery system known as the Pony Express took place as the same time of the wild west. With no FedEx, no Postal service that ran so far away, no modern delivery convinces there was no real way of communication. In fact the mail if sent at all took quite some time and often got lost. However, that was before the day of the American Express.

The companies of Leavenworth and Pike's Peak Express Company took an opportunity to fill a need. The Pony Express only existed for 18 months between the dates of April 3, 1860 and October 1861. A major employer of young riders who were selected to deliver the small packages and letters that needed to get past the gateway of St. Joseph Missouri. Not every one that wanted to was selected to ride with the pony express. In fact, the company selected riders with a certain age, size and weight of individual in mind.

Oath taken by Pony Express Riders.
 “I do hereby swear, before the Great and Living God, that during my engagement, and while an employee of Russell, Majors and Waddell, I will, under no circumstances, use profane language, that I will drink no intoxicating liquors, that I will not quarrel or fight with any other employee of the firm, and that in every respect I will conduct myself honestly, be faithful to my duties, and so direct all my acts as to win the confidence of my employers, so help me God.”


Often only young riders were selected to work for the Pony Express. Riders that were light in size and hosted a resiliency to do the job. The horse was often more important than the rider and if the rider was in fact light in size the more the horse could run, the more the horse could carry and the further they could go. Perhaps it all sounds like the Pony Express had it all under control but one may be fooled as well

The Pony Express was truly a remarkable development and did the work with resiliency but it was not profitable. Wars with the Indians often led to shutdowns of the pony express. The cost were also heavy and led to financial ruin due to high operation cost and the inability to secure a governmental mail contract. In the end the Pony Express lost $200,000

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