The Pony Express Research Paper

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Pages: 3

Have you ever wondered how people received their mail before there were mail trucks? William H. Russell, William B. Waddell, and Alexander Majors founded The Pony Express on April 3,1860. The Pony Express consisted of relays of men riding horses carrying saddlebags of mail across a 2000-mile trail. The Pony Express caught Americans imagination and helped win federal aid for a more postal system.The Pony Express launched at a time before radios,telephones, when California, which achieved statehood in 1850. From New York to West Coast ships traveled to send letters which took at the most a month. People that delivered mail were paid close to twenty-five dollars and carried loads estimated up to about twenty pounds of mail. The twenty …show more content…
The Express path was especially hazardous, but only one mail delivery was ever lost. The helping lasted only nine-teen months until October twenty-four, 1861, when the realization of the pacific telegraph line ended the need for its actuality. However, the loving drama all around The Pony Express has made part of the myth of the American West.

During the 1950's, a part of the neglected Pikes Peak Stables in St. Joseph was rescued from total disappearance and became The Pony Express Museum. After stabilization and restoration of the remaining segment, new manifest were installed and the stables opened to the public. In 1993, the museum undergo a further restoration to reinstate the existing portion of the stables to its original size. To this day the museum continues to stand as a statement to the myth and heritage of the Pony Express and its long-lasting era.

It also gives to the wealth of the towns on its course and served the mail-service needs of the American West in the days before the telegraph or an organized railroad. The beginning cost of Pony Express carriage was five dollars for every half ounce of mail. With the arrival of the first transcontinental telegraph line in October 1861, the Pony Express ceased operations. The myth of the lone Pony Express rider rush across the Old West frontier to take the mail lives on