A Rare Pony Express Artifact
A letter that took two years to reach its destination evokes the hazards of the Pony Express
- By Owen Edwards
- Smithsonian magazine, May 2010, Subscribe
In 1860, an ill-fated Pony Express rider, whose name has been lost to history, was crossing the trackless wastes of Nevada when he vanished, likely killed by Indians. Two years later, in May 1862, the mail pouch from that doomed mission, still containing letters bound for the East, was recovered.
Today, only a few remnants from the contents of that saddlebag survive. Among them is an envelope—a rare artifact of the mid-19th-century’s legendary Pony Express mail service, founded 150 years ago. (The letter that was inside has long since disappeared.) The philatelic treasure will reside on long-term loan at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum (NPM). Recently, the envelope’s owner, William H. Gross, a passionate stamp collector since childhood, donated funds for a new 12,000-square-foot gallery at the museum, scheduled to open in 2012. The envelope will take pride of place in the new exhibition space. “There are only two pieces of what collectors call ‘interrupted mail’ from the Pony Express known to exist, and they were in that rider’s pouch,” says NPM curator Daniel Piazza.
The concept of expedited mail delivery by a relay of single riders on fast horses—a kind of grass-fueled FedEx—echoed the vision that won the West. Established in April 1860, the Pony Express failed to win a major contract from the federal government and was replaced by a stagecoach line after only 18 months. Yet its bravado has colored the mail service ever since.
The transcontinental delivery system was marvelous in its simplicity. Across 1,900 miles, at 186 stations between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, fresh horses awaited carriers who rode at full gallop in 10- to 12-mile segments (judged to be the maximum distance that a good mount could maintain a speedy clip). At each station, the rider leapt off one horse and onto the next, then sped on. The tough, wiry horsemen covered up to 125 miles at a stretch—a punishing pace that commanded a then-substantial salary of $25 per week. William “Buffalo Bill” Cody and James “Wild Bill” Hickok boasted they had earned their spurs as young Express riders. “Or so they claimed,” says Piazza. (There is no evidence that either did so.)
The rare 1860 envelope attests that hard riding was not the most daunting aspect of the job. Routes passed through deserted, often forbidding, territory. A note scrawled on the front of the artifact alludes to its tragic backstory: “Recovered from a [sic] mail stolen by the Indians in 1860.” The nameless victim is thought to have been the only Pony Express rider killed, though a few station agents died when Indians attacked their outposts.
The letter at last reached its destination—a New York City business recorded only as Fred Probst & Co.—in August 1862. Says Piazza: “So much happened between when the letter was sent and when it arrived—Lincoln’s election, the secession crisis, the beginning of the Civil War.” (In March 1861, the Pony Express set a record for transcontinental delivery—7 days 17 hours—when riders carried Abraham Lincoln’s Inaugural Address to the West Coast.) The envelope bears an oval stamp that reads “The Central Overland California & Pikes Peak Express Company,” the enterprise that administered the Pony Express. It had disbanded nine months before, on October 26, 1861.
The envelope also bears a basic 10-cent stamp, which normally would have meant a two-month trip, as the letter traveled from San Francisco by ship down the West Coast, across the isthmus of Panama and by sea up the East Coast to New York City. The additional cost for Pony Express service—guaranteed to reach the East Coast in about 12 days—was $5 (roughly $133 in today’s currency) per half-ounce.
Ultimately, says Piazza, even the envelope’s stamp, with its image of George Washington, offers a history lesson. “Although the letter was delivered,” he says, “the 10-cent stamp was no longer valid. At the beginning of the [Civil] War, all existing postal stamps were demonetized so the Confederacy couldn’t use them.”
Owen Edwards is a freelance writer and author of the book Elegant Solutions
Subscribe now for more of Smithsonian's coverage on history, science and nature.
Comments (100)
+ View All Comments
I am doing a project on The Pony Express. My project is for NHD I was wondering could you maybe send me some artifacts.
Posted by Kayla on January 12,2012 | 07:33 PM
I have apony express news letter advertisment says effective july 1,1861 .change of times .
Posted by beverly on March 30,2011 | 02:10 PM
I have a letter " carried via PONY EXPRESS race from GHOST TOWN OF BODIE california to bridgeport california" July 6, 1968 Pony Express Bodie. Is this of any value? Letter not opened.
Posted by Jeff Robertshaw on March 21,2011 | 10:45 AM
Nice article, but a few flaws. 1) The pony express was not replaced by stage coach - telegraph and trains put them out of business. BTW - I just rode 3 miles of the old pony express trail behind Strawberry Lodge in CA last week while delivering the mochila for the 2010 re-ride.
History Lives On
www.xphomestation.com
Posted by Annette on June 13,2010 | 07:40 PM
The Pony Express went out of business slightly more than 48 hours after the first transcontinental telegraph line was completed in October 1861, nine years ahead of the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. The telegraph made the Pony Express obsolete. The invention of the electro-magnetic telegraph has been named one of the ten most important inventions in world history. You would think that the author would have at least mentioned the telegraph instead of making it appear that some nameless person decided to switch the mail from the Pony Express to stagecoach
Posted by Warren McFarland on May 20,2010 | 05:10 PM
The ongoing discussion on Indian vs. native American aside, I very much enjoyed the article on the piece of ‘interrupted mail’ and the short-lived Pony Express delivery service. I found the accompanying picture interesting in that I understood that Express riders were all boys; slight of build, excellent horsemen, and usually orphans due to the significant dangers they faced and the very real possibility that they might not complete their mission. I also noted that the rider pictured carries a rifle and saddlebags in addition to the letter pouch across his shoulder. It was my understanding that Express riders carried neither as a consideration of weight (and possibly to preclude any inclination to stop and fight rather than flee with all haste in the direction of the next route station).
R. W. Randy Sims
Posted by R.W. Sims on May 16,2010 | 10:31 PM
American Indian women have been sterilized with out their knowledge and often sterilized using sterilizing agents that have not been yet approved for use in the US that cause them health problems. Or were lied to about how they were being sterilized and told things like it would be reversible.
Also Canada doesn't treat their First Peoples any better than we do. They may have gave them a providence but that land has some of the worse toxins levels in Canada. Also they forced almost all of their tribes children into Indian Boarding Schools, while in America tribal children were just highly encouraged to go to them. Look into Indian Boarding Schools it was how our government and Canada's decided that since they physically couldn't kill off all of the Indians that they would kill of their cultures and see if they could assimilate them into our culture. Indian Boardings Schools were still open even in the 1970's.
There are a million things I could talk about that have recently been done against an American Indian or their tribe. There are too many things for me to mention. Don't react poorly to hearing these things. These things are what happens around us, that the normal media doesn't report about. Most people in this country have been made to feel that American Indians are all dead or that they are a static group of people who are stuck in the past and that the things that are done to them are all of the past. But that is not the case. I know this stuff is sad and horrible but instead of being sad do something. Become educated about it and educate others. :)
Posted by Artistic Avi on May 13,2010 | 05:49 AM
That is just one instance. Look up the Dann Sisters and you will read about how these older women were terrorized by the police and the government and strip mining corporations because they wanted their land since it was mineral rich.
The government told many American Indian people in the 60's whose reservation had Uranium deposits underneath them that if they set up Uranium mines they would help build them roads and schools and medical facilities and that the mines would give them jobs. The government knew about the dangers of uranium but told them nothing. The people who worked in the mines wore none of the protection they needed since they didn't know they needed it. The government built them buildings and roads using low grade materials that contained low grade uranium ore. Even today these people have horrible health problems and are feeling the effects of the radiation. The government still try's to do this but tells the tribes the safety requirements needed now. What they don't tell them is what will happen to their land when a uranium mine or a strip mine is put on their land and how often it starts to make the area around it toxic.
Also for one tribe some where kind of near Nevada or in it, I forget which tribe, their only natural clean aquifer has been taken from them so that the water is transported to an electrical company so it can be used to run through machines for discharging the waste. They could use dirty water but instead they use something they can get to come to them slightly cheaper and in the process ruin perfectly clean water. The people of this tribe and the other people of the area are poor, so no one cares that they have to pump the earth trying to get what water they can and then transport it to their homes and then filter it many times before use.
Continued...
Posted by Artistic Avi on May 13,2010 | 05:48 AM
George P. Burdell,
This is what I said "We shouldn't feel guilty since we weren't there and able to change things. We should feel guilty if we aren't doing anything about the injustices to American Indians and other peoples during our own lives. So I say stop feeling guilty and do something."
Also I never said that American Indians didn't fight. Some tribes attacked others and some tribes never attacked others and would only defend themselves when attacked. Also some tribes had slaves; the slave class were thought of as not as valuable members of their society but they did have rights and were usually not abused. Slavery is still not a good thing no matter how well you treat slave. Also there is a ton of evidence that almost no tribes did scalping before Europeans came and showed them the technique. They fought other ways.
Also all people should strive to be "noble" during their lives. I was not making a case for all American Indians being any type of horrible stereotype such as the "noble native". The "noble native" as you put it is one of the not as bad stereotypes but it is still a negative stereotype and it is negative to stereotype an entire group of people.
So you would like to know what any of this has to do with today. Well I didn't want to get into it since there is so much information but since you want to know...
I said this earlier and you might not have read it "You would probably be surprised to know that most of the nuclear bomb tests in Nevada don't take place on military land, they take place on reservation land. But the way it works is that even though the tribes have sovereignty on their reservations, the reservations are also federal government land, so the government gets away with a lot of atrocities on tribal land."
Continued...
Posted by Artistic Avi on May 13,2010 | 05:45 AM
Artistic Avi
..you are getting way too wound up. True it is a travisty that the White Native Americans slaughtered the peop le that were in residence at the time..But what does that have to do with Today? I refuse to be held responsible for the sins of the past.. ( and no..my ancestors were not involved..but that is beside the point..) Please visit Chaco Canyon NM, Battle Lake MN, or many of the other documented sites of "Native on Native" violence before you attempt to make the case for the "noble native"
Posted by George P. Burdell on May 8,2010 | 10:43 PM
This is what I have to say. If another country came here and tried to take over what would you do and how would you feel? What if they succeeded at taking over and decided to then mistreat you and your family. Then they decide to slowly try and kill you and your family off by starving you of your resources. They also try to kill off your culture and only leave you a small bit of land for you to try and live the way you use to. How would you feel? And now it is the future. People have continued to treat you and those of your culture poorly. And everyone acts like you and your culture has died off long ago. How would you feel? The majority of people in your country act like the injustices against you and your ancestors happened long ago and you should just get over it. But the racism and land acquisition of what little is left has never ended. And the current government poisons what land you have. How would you feel?
I feel that we need to try to think like others to understand where they are coming from. Yes I am not an American Indian and I can never fully understand how any American Indian feels. Truly I can't fully understand how anyone else feels, but it is important to try. We need to try for the sake of each other and living peaceably.
Posted by Artistic Avi on May 6,2010 | 02:31 AM
Augustus McCrae your information is outdated on the Kennewick man. Studies have shown that he is most likely a person from the Asian continent and most resembles the Ainu people. There is a lot of evidence that American Indians have been here a lot longer than most scientists originally thought. They have been here long enough that they have completely adapted to this environment and that their best life style is living off of the natural resources on this continent.
This is addressed to everyone: Yes history is full of stories of people being displaced by other people, but is it right? It use to be considered okay in our culture, but not anymore. Our founding fathers at first wanted to be fair with the native peoples of this continent but then as more Europeans came and needed more land they gave up on their high ideals and decided to rescind on their original treaties. Yes I understand this want to avoid feeling guilty but I don't think it's alright to make excuses. We shouldn't feel guilty since we weren't there and able to change things. We should feel guilty if we aren't doing anything about the injustices to American Indians and other peoples during our own lives. So I say stop feeling guilty and do something. Like become more educated on current American Indian policies and issues in the country. Earlier this year I was in a class focusing on issues facing American Indian Woman and I was amazed by how badly American Indians are currently being treated by our government and throughout our history as a country.
.....Continued
Posted by Artistic Avi on May 6,2010 | 02:31 AM
The snide remarks about our postal service are uncalled for. Could the service be better? No doubt. But the invective smacks of the rantings of a malcontent.
Could it be that people have been watching Jerry Seinfeld's mail man for too long?
Posted by Fred and Trudi Bender on May 6,2010 | 06:48 PM
As a great-great grand daughter of Alexander Majors I was very pleased to read of the empty envelope. We still enjoy stories and memories of him and the Pony Express that the family has passed down through the generations.
He was one of the three owners of the Pony Express, Russell, Majors, and Wadell. Russell was the financial part of the business Wadell was the Washington DC contact and Majors put the business on the road, providing the horses, the men, and routing. He ran the business.
He wrote a book, or rather he dictated a book, of his life though he did not know how to read or write well enough to write it himself. It is called Seventy Years on the Frontier and is still a pretty good overview of the wild west.
Nancy Majors Ostrander
Posted by nancy Majors Ostrander on May 6,2010 | 05:40 PM
+ View All Comments