Pony Express Historic Resource Study

SIGNIFICANCE

Determining the significance of the Pony Express National Historic Trail is not an easy task because of the shroud of myth versus reality that covers this enterprise. The romantic idea and drama of a "chain of horsemen braving the dangers of the West, night and day," captured the imagination of many Americans. [21] Today, the image of the Pony Express rider and his horsemanship as an icon of the American West supersedes any historical reality concerning the history of the business organization.

Several examples give weight to this premise. For example, by the time the 1976 American Bicentennial rolled around, Americans clearly viewed the Pony Express "ride" itself to be more important than the history of the C.O.C.& P.P. Express Co. and the actual route of the Pony Express. In that year, to celebrate the nation's birth, a Pony Express '76 group formed to celebrate the Pony Express by organizing of all things, a non-stop Pony Express ride through the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia to Pennsylvania. Over 500 individuals participated in this elaborate twelve day "iconographic" event, which traversed 3,022 miles. Conspicuously, they ignored for the most part the history and reality of the actual Pony Express route, even while passing through Wyoming and Nebraska. [22] More recently, several Czechoslovakian natives organized and took part in a Pony Express "ride" in their country. Furthermore, while the 139th Tactical Airlift Group was stationed in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War, it added a so-called "Middle Eastern Station" to the Pony Express "route" complete with a list of riders. [23]

At this point, any criticism of the Pony Express might be considered by many Americans as unpatriotic to say the least. Nonetheless, an assessment of the significance of the C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co. has to be made—one that cuts through the myth to reality. In the author's judgement, the Pony Express played a role in the development of transportation and communication links between the west and the east coasts, but not a very successful one. Plain and simple, the C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co. failed to provide "reliable" mail service across the country as Russell, Majors, and Waddell promised.

Many unforeseen and known factors, contributed to Russell, Majors, and Waddell's failure. The primary problem they did not foresee was the Pyramid Lake Indian War, which severely interrupted and then slowed Pony Express service for several months. This event cost the business revenue, as well as large sums of money to fortify and defend stations in the Nevada desert against Indian attack. In the end, even these efforts were not enough. Fortunately, United States Army regulars came to the rescue and protected the vulnerable route against further depredations. Setting Indian depredations aside, unpredictable weather- related events actually defeated the company. Russell, Majors, and Waddell promised speedy reliable service come rain, snow, or sunshine. In good weather, the Pony Express system worked as it was designed. But during the long, hard, stormy winter of 1860-1861, actually the first real test of the system against harsh weather elements, the Pony Express system could not maintain a regular or speedy schedule, even with the help of the extension of the telegraph lines. Due to the severe winter that year, the system broke down delaying the mail for substantial periods of time, much as it had under previous mail contractors, such as George Chorpenning. According to one historian, the average time of the twenty-two midwinter trips between destination points was 13.8 days. On four of these trips, sixteen days were used between telegraph points. Additionally, one trip took seventeen days, and another trip was missed entirely. [24] Like it or not, postmaster general Aaron V. Brown was correct in 1857 when he thought the southern route of the Butterfield Overland Mail Company was superior to the central overland route because of winter travel conditions.

On another level, the Pony Express failed as a successful business venture. The undertaking of an enterprise on a scale and size of the Pony Express by a private business was not a "Great Gamble"as one author posed, [25] but instead, it simply was an imprudent business venture. Quickly looking at the possible numbers of letters sent versus the cost of the operation, any smart businessman could recognize the disparity. Alexander Majors knew that the amount of business transacted over this line was insufficient to pay one-tenth of the expenses, to say nothing about the amount of capital invested. [26] In Russell, Majors, and Waddell's defense, some historians argue that the "Pony Express was not an end in itself, but a means to an end," [27] a legitimate business investment designed to place the firm in a favorable position to compete with the Butterfield line for the next overland mail contract. Russell, Majors, and Waddell knew it would be made obsolete by the telegraph. [28] If this supposition were true, then the Pony Express failed here as well. In March 1861, when the overland mail contract was signed due to the exigencies of the impending Civil War, Russell, Majors, and Waddell were not in a financial position to compete with the Butterfield line, and therefore they lost out on their only chance to obtain a overland mail route contract.

As the above arguments infer, the Pony Express' significance in American history does not rest on the company's capabilities. Instead, its significance is grounded in two different areas: 1) the Pony Express' basic contribution to transportation and communication history, and 2) its very existence during a critical time period in American history.

Clearly the Pony Express reduced the communication distance between the east and west coasts, and "speeded up news service to and from the Pacific Coast." [29] The Pony Express was a benefit to the public for this reason. Contemporary accounts also tend to agree that the Pony Express bound these two distant sections of the Union together before and during the Civil War. [30] The Pony Express also fostered closer communication links between Mormon communities at Salt Lake City, and other Trans-Missouri communities and eastern states. [31]

The Pony Express also had a tremendous impact on newspaper journalism of the day. Many of the nation's papers depended on the Pony Express for their news. With the arrival of each express, journalists worked through the night to bring out "pony extra" editions of their papers. Some newspapers established special columns, bringing the most current news, emphasizing the method of obtaining the news (by "Pony Express") as important as the news itself. [32]

Some historians have spuriously argued that the Pony Express established the feasibility of the central route across the continent and hastened the building of the Union and Central Pacific Railroads. [33] Alexander Majors in his autobiography stated that he and his partners undertook the enterprise solely to prove that the route could be made a permanent thoroughfare for travel at all seasons. He and his partners felt successful in this purpose. [34]

However, the facts do not bear out Major's statement. Though the founders claimed to have shown that the central route across the continent was feasible for a railroad, but the company made no effort in that direction. [35] As Roy S. Bloss aptly stated in his monograph The Pony Express-The Great Gamble, "the belching giant of steam and smoke was wooed by western expansionists long before the equine mail was even a dream, and its wheels were set a-rolling not by the pretentious Pony but by talented promoters and an all-Northern Congress." [36] Though the Central Pacific Railroad Company was incorporated during the Pony Express era (June 28, 1861) for the purpose of constructing a transcontinental railroad, there seems to be no connection between its visionaries (Theodore D. Judah, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, and Collis P. Huntington) and the freighting firm of Russell, Majors, and Waddell.

Even though the Pony Express did not directly or indirectly contribute to implementation of a central transcontinental railroad route, the very presence of the Pony Express operation ensured the enterprise's place in history and for a variety of reasons. First, the establishment by the C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co. of the route across the Trans-Missouri West and the construction of stations along this route aided in the development of many western communities and fixed the permanency of many these localities. [37] Future local and county histories will no doubt point out the extent of the Pony Express' role in these communities. Additionally, riders passing through communities on the route gathered and spread news regarding Indian movements, and other regional tidbits about these communities to the rest of the country. [38]

Second, the Pony Express provided a critical communication service to and from the Pacific Coast. According to Hubert Howe Bancroft, "it was the pony to which every one looked for intelligence; men prayed for the safety of the little beast, and trembled lest the service should be discontinued." [39] Many important business and personal letters as well as private dispatches were entrusted to the Pony Express, including valuable international documents, such as war reports from the English squadron in China, which cost $135 to send. [40]

This service became invaluable as the Civil War approached. Messages concerning Lincoln's election and inauguration were eagerly anticipated at the western terminus of the Pony Express. During the spring of 1861, when Texas seceded from the Union and Confederate troops destroyed the Overland Mail Company in southern Missouri and Texas, cutting off news to the Pacific Coast, people living in the western territories became even more dependent on the Pony Express for their news. With the onset of the Civil War one month later, and President Lincoln's declaration of a "state of insurrection," after South Carolina troops fired upon Fort Sumter, westerners eagerly anticipating the arrival of each Pony Express rider. When the mail arrived, thousands of people congregated in streets of San Francisco anxiously discussing the changing state of events. As one Pony Express historian succinctly stated: "that long, slender line of communication, which a handful of hostile Indians might easily break any day, was their sole reliance for keeping abreast of swiftly moving [Civil War] events." [41]