The Pony Express: First Mail Delivery Across the Untamed West

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Fun Facts About the Pony Express

Purpose:

To provide the fastest mail delivery between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. To draw public attention to the central route in hope of gaining the million dollar government mail contract for the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company.

Date:

April 3, 1860 to late October 1861.

Mechanics:

Relay of mail by horses and riders. The Pony Express ran day and night, summer and winter.

Riders:

183 men are known to have ridden for the Pony Express during its operation of just over 18 months.

Rider Qualifications:

Ad in California newspaper read: “Wanted. Young, skinny, wiry fellows. Not over 18. Must be expert riders. Willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred.” Most riders were around 20. Youngest was 11. Oldest was mid-40s. Not many were orphans. Usually weighed around 120 pounds.

Riders Pay

$100 per month.

First Riders:

Johnny Fry was first westbound rider from St. Joseph. Billy Hamilton was first eastbound driver from Sacramento.

Rider Relay:

New riders took over every 75 to 100 miles.

Horse Relay:

Riders got a fresh horse every 10 to 15 miles.

Speed:

Horses traveled an average of 10 miles per hour.

Horses:

400 horses purchased to stock the Pony Express route. Thoroughbreds, mustangs, pintos, and Morgans were often used.

Stations:

Approximately 165 stations.

Trail Length:

Almost 2,000 miles.

Route:

St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California. Through the present day states of Kansas, Nebraska, northeast corner of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California.

Departure:

Once a week from April 3 to mid-June 1860. Twice a week from mid-June to late October 1861. Departures were from both the east and the west.

Schedule:

10 days in summer. 12 to 16 days in winter.

Fastest Delivery:

7 days and 17 hours between telegraph lines. Lincoln’s Inaugural Address.

Longest Drive:

Pony Bob Haslam rode 370 miles (Friday’s station to Smith Creek and back. This is in present-day Nevada.)

Cost of Mail:

$5.00 per 1/2 ounce at the beginning. By the end of the Pony Express, the price had dropped to $1.00 per 1/2 ounce.

Founders:

William Russell, Alexander Majors, and William Waddell. The company was the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company. The Pony Express was a subsidiary of the famous freight and stage company.

Other Mail Routes:

Water route from New York to San Francisco and across Panama by pack mule. Southern or Butterfield route from St. Louis and Memphis to El Paso to Los Angeles to San Francisco.

Telegraph Completed:

October 24, 1861. Official end of the Pony Express.

Failures:

Financially, the owners spent $700,000 on the Pony Express and had a $200,000 deficit. The company failed to get the million dollar government contract because of political pressures and the outbreak of the Civil War.

Successes:

Improved communication between east and west. Proved the central route could be traveled all winter. Supported the central route for the transcontinental railroad. Kept communication open to California at the beginning of the Civil War. Provided the fastest communication between east and west until the telegraph. Captured the hearts and the imagination of people all over the world.

Folklore:

One mochila lost and one rider killed. Location, date and names have not been verified. [Mochila is Spanish for the leather saddlebag with four locked pouches.]

 

Special thanks to AmericanWest.com

The Panama Canal: Connecting Two Oceans and Innovating Travel

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Fun Facts About The Panama Canal

• The canal opened on July 12, 1920.

• Ships traveling between New York and San Francisco save 7,872 miles by using the Panama Canal instead of going around Cape Horn.

• The Atlantic entrance to the Canal is 22-1/2 miles west of the Pacific entrance.

• More than four and half million cubic yards of concrete went in to the construction of the locks and dams.

• Material originally excavated to build the Canal were put on to a train of flat cars, it would encircle the world four times.

• The locks of the Panama Canal are seven feet thick.

• Each door of the locks weights 750 tons.

• Due to the reclining “S” shape of the Isthmus of Panama the sun rises from the Pacific and sets in the Atlantic Ocean.

• The average sea level for the Atlantic and Pacific entrance is virtually the same. But since the tidal variation at the Pacific entrance can be up to 18 feet, a sea level canal would be faced with the problem of a current running northbound when the Pacific tide was high and a current running south bound when the tide was low.

• On February 29, 1968 the most transits on a single day with an amount of 65 ships crossing the isthmus was recorded.

• In June 1979 the U.S. Navy hydrofoil Pegasus made the fastest transit ever when it crossed the Panama Canal in record time of 2 hours and 41 minutes.

• Approximately 7,300 or nearly 92 percent of the work force of the Panama Canal is Panamanian.

• The 13,700 transit in 1996 carried more than 198 million long tons of cargo to ports throughout the world.

• More than 60,000,000 pounds of dynamite was used to excavate and construct the Panama Canal.

• The dam constructed across the Chagres River in Gatun created Gatun Lake , the largest man-made lake in the world at that time.
  

  Gatun Locks

• The rock and soil excavated from Culebra cut was used to build the shell of the dam at Gatun on the Atlantic side.

• Since 1904 due to accidents and health problems, 5609 workers lost their lives, constructing the Canal. 80% of them were Black and 350 were white Americans.

• On August 23, 1928 Richard Halliburton transited the Canal swimming , paying a toll of 36 cents since his weight was 150 pounds.

• The cruise ship Rhapsody of the Sea established a toll record in 1997 when it paid $153,662.66 to cross the water-way.

• The San Juan Prospector was the longest ship to transit the Canal; it was 751 ft. (229 m.) in length with a 107 ft. (32.6 m.) beam.

• In 1963 the Panama Canal for the first time started operating on a 24 hour, round-the-clock schedule, thanks to the introduction high mass fluorescent lighting.

• The Panama Canal in 1974 raised the toll rates for the first time since they were not breaking even.

• Excavation of the Canal was equal to digging a 10 feet trench deep by 55 wide from California to New York.

Special thanks to  web.bryant.edu and www.panamatours.com