The Pony Express in Old Sacramento
The Pony Express may have ceased business operations over 160 years ago, but the legend of the short lived overland mail service lives on thanks to the National Pony Express Association, which is having their annual Re-Ride happening right now.
For a little backstory, the Pony Express originally started on April 3, 1860. The Pony Express advertised that mail through their service would take just 10 days to travel the over 1,800 miles from the B. F. Hastings building at Second and J Streets in Sacramento to St. Joseph, Missouri (the eastern terminus of the Pony Express route). From San Francisco to Sacramento, the mail was transported on the Antelope steamboat. Pony Express riders were paid approximately $25 per week and carried up to 20 pounds of mail in leather mochilas. Every 75 to 100 miles a new rider took over and horses were switched out every 10 to 15 miles.
The Pony Express set a new standard for quick mail delivery and connected isolated California in the west with the news of the eastern United States. Prior to the Pony Express, news or letters from the east could take weeks, if not well over a month to arrive in California either by stagecoach or steamship.
The Pony Express closed operations on October 26, 1861, just two days after the first transcontinental telegraph message was transmitted.
On June 7th, a ceremony was held by the National Pony Express Association and the National Park Service at the Pony Express statue in Old Sacramento. The first rider left at 2pm on June 7th, even passed by our museum, and is currently traversing the Pony Express trail and will end at St. Joseph, Missouri.
You can learn more on their website and follow the riders on the trail at https://nationalponyexpress.org/
Will the mail make it in 10 days? We shall see!
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