Pony Express Historic Resource Study

CONTINUED OPERATION OF THE PONY EXPRESS, 1861

During the lobbying for a central overland mail route contract, the C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co. continued to run the Pony Express on schedule. Following Abraham Lincoln's inauguration on March 4, 1861, the Pony Express made yet another important ride—carrying this important news to the Trans-Missouri West. [127] Following Lincoln's inauguration, a Confederate Congress met on March 11th to organize a constitution stressing states' rights and protecting slavery. One month later, on April 12, 1861, South Carolina troops fired upon Fort Sumter. Within days, President Lincoln declared a "state of insurrection," which in affect declared a state of war.

The onset of the Civil War saw westerners eagerly anticipating the arrival of each Pony Express, with thousands of people congregating in the streets anxiously discussing the changing state of events. In the ten days between Pony Express rides, events transpired rapidly. For instance, when Californians learned that the nation's capital was exposed to Confederate troops from Virginia, they waited and worried for ten days to learn whether it had fallen into the hands of the Confederacy. During that time period, many people feared that "traitors were in possession of the Federal City, laying their destroying hands on national archives, and defacing the national monuments." [128]

By the spring of 1861, the Pony Express was back on schedule and it was even early sometimes. [129] With the spring came the transfer of the responsibilities for the Pony Express west of Salt Lake City to the Wells Fargo and Company. On April 15, 1861, William H. Russell ordered that C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co. offices in San Francisco and Sacramento be turned over to Wells Fargo & Company. Wells Fargo was made the temporary agent for the Pony Express and served in that role until July 1, 1861, when the Overland Mail Company took over the operation of the route between California and Utah. [130] San Francisco newspapers announced the changeover, stating simply that Wells Fargo & Company had become the pony agents and that they were reducing rates from $2.50 for a letter of one fourth ounce to $2.00 for half an ounce of weight. [131] This arrangement continued until the stated date, when Wells Fargo & Company began handling the "express, passenger and mail business, including Pony Express letters." One scholar contended that the relationship between Wells Fargo & Company and the Pony Express amounted to one of ownership or having an "interest" in the business. [132] However, others contend that Wells Fargo never "owned the institution or had anything to do with the making of policies, fixing of rates, or the executive administration of business." The only official relationship between Wells Fargo & Company and the original Pony Express owned by the C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co. was as a temporary western agent from April 15 to July 1, 1861. [133]

On the other end of the route, the United States Express Company acted as agents for the Pony Express in St. Louis. Newspapers announced that the United States Express Company had succeeded Samuel & Allen as Pony Express agents in the city, and that the rates had been reduced there as well. [134] By May 1, 1861, American Express Company advertisements appeared in St. Louis papers, stating that letters received at their offices could be sent to California via Pony Express at St. Joseph every Wednesday and Saturday. Alongside these advertisements stood those of the C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co. [135]

With the anticipated revenues, Russell, Majors, and Waddell hoped to profit enough to pay their debts. However, Russell's days as president of the C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co. were limited. On March 28, 1861, he made a public statement printed in most major newspapers nationwide. In this statement, he confessed that he had accepted the second and third lot of bonds from Godard Bailey, knowing full well that it was tantamount to embezzlement. His only defense to the country was that the "government owed his firm a large sum of money for losses in Utah in 1857-58." On April 26, 1861, he was asked to resign, and Russell tendered his resignation. Bela M. Hughes, a close friend of the remaining partners, was elected to replace him as president of the firm. Hughes was a St. Joseph lawyer and an agent for the company in that city. [136]

Meanwhile, in late June 1861, the first pole of the Overland Telegraph Company was planted east of Fort Churchill, Nevada. The telegraph company hoped to lay wire at the rate of five miles a day, constructing a new telegraph station every fifty miles. Since the telegraph wire usually followed the line of the daily mail stations of the Pony Express and the Overland Mail Company, each fifty miles of wire shortened the time in which news by Pony Express could be sent by five hours. [137]

Throughout July and August of 1861, the communication distance between the east and west coasts shortened every week. With each push of the telegraph line, the news of its accomplishment was published in the newspapers. By July 26, 1861, the telegraph line extended as far east from California as Sand Springs Station, linking the East and West by just seven day's time. [138] By August 8th, the telegraph had been extended to Reese River Station, 132 miles east of Fort Churchill. [139] By August 13th, Pony Express news was being telegraphed to San Francisco a whole two days before Pony Express letters arrived. By August, the Overland Telegraph Company had also extended the telegraph wire fifty miles west of Ft. Kearney, Nebraska. [140] Several weeks later in September, a crew from Salt Lake City started eastward to meet the line coming from Ft. Kearney and prosecuted their work with "equal energy" as their counterparts. [141]

During the progress of the Overland Telegraph Company, the Pony Express continued in operation filling the gaps between telegraph stations. By September 18th, a typical transmission of news was sent as follows:

By telegraph from St. Joseph to 100 miles west of Ft. Kearney; thence by Pony to Julesburg; by telegraph from Julesburg to a point nearly 250 miles from the latter place; then the Pony will take up the dispatches and convey them to the first telegraph station.... [142]

One scholar proposed that the patronage of the Pony Express decreased with the construction of each section of the telegraph. [143] However, the following chart indicates that the rate of patronage actually increased from March to October, 1861: [144]

Despite this successful business, the last link of the Overland Telegraph, which had begun on July 4, 1858, when the first pole was erected east of Placerville, was completed. On October 26, 1861, the first news dispatch by telegraph was sent all the way to San Francisco, bringing instantaneous communication with every important city in the East. [145] Thereafter, businessmen crowded into the telegraph offices to send business dispatches via telegraph. Before the telegraph was completed, they paid upwards of $150 for sending a dispatch by Pony Express. That rate was dropped to approximately $50 for the privilege of communicating with the East by telegraph. [146] Following the completion of the telegraph wire, San Francisco and other newspapers stopped printing the list of letters transported via Pony Express, and stopped using the by-line "Per Pony Express." The Pony Express left the stage of the history of the American West. [147]

Now that the nation had two means of transcontinental communication (two choices—the transcontinental telegraphic wire, and the Overland Mail Company), many people thought that Californians should be satisfied and not appeal to Congress for better mail service. Some Californians disagreed. They thought that the telegraphic line was still too uncertain a system, especially since in its early days the wire had many difficulties that caused considerable delays. On the other hand, others thought that the Overland Mail Company mail/passenger service was altogether too slow. Ideally, these unsatisfied individuals yearned for a service that had reliability and speed—a permanent Pony Express.

The San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin editorialized on this point during the last days of the Pony Express, stating:

We need a well organized Pony Express, capable of crossing from St. Louis to San Francisco regularly within ten days time, to remedy both of these evils, and make our communication with the Atlantic States as perfect as it can be. Congress was guilty of a great lack of wisdom and foresight, when it inserted a clause in the Overland Mail bill which allowed the discontinuance of the Pony Express so soon as the telegraph line should be completed, for its appropriations were sufficiently liberal to have rendered both the Mail and the Express permanent institutions.

. . . It requires but a few thousand dollars to re-establish the Pony Express, so that fifteen days will be ample time to send letters from California to Washington. [148]

Despite this popular support, the Pony Express was not reestablished. After October 26, 1861, when the Pony Express was officially discontinued because of the completion of the transcontinental telegraph, the Pony Express moved into the annals of history as a significant page in transportation and communication history.

Typical Advertisement for Pony Express on east coast. Dated 7/1/1861. Courtesy of Nevada Historical Society Reno, NV