Mile 890: BYX and Other Historical Facts
MORMAN SETTLEMENT: Anxious to obtain better mail service from the States, Hyrum Kimball, acting as agent for the Mormon BYX operation headquarters at Salt Lake City, was low bidder for…
First Mileposts on the Emigrant Trail
"They arrived in time and were turned over to Parley's brother, the Apostle Orson Pratt. Orson was the best educated of the Saints and one of the principal intelligences, a…
Slow Communications With Taylor
"Taylor sat under his grapevine at Matamor6s and could not have had a better press. Clearly the country appreciated his victories but the administration sent no official praise. The holy…
Rate of Communication in 1846
"The vote of June 12 was to instruct the President to accept 49°. Three days later Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Pakenham signed the convention that settled the Oregon question forever…
Mile 1075: South Pass
"But South Pass was the halfway mark on the wagon journey [to Oregon], and by now the pioneers had survived two months of Platte River storms, the outdoor cholera wards,…
Mile 1411: Rush Valley/Bush Valley/Faust/Doc. Faust’s/Meadow Creek Station
"Although identified in the 1861 mail contract as Bush Valley, it is apparently a typographical error or was copied as a result of a misinterpreted hand-written contract. This station was…
Move from St. Joseph to Atchison
"Beginning in September, 1861, the Post Office Department ordered the dispatch of the overland mail from Atchison rather than St. Joseph, since the Kansas town was 14 miles farther west on an…
Hale’s Bill
"Early in March, 1861, congress passed a law (essentially Hale's bill) providing for a daily mail by the Central route to California and a semiweekly Pony Express, at a total annual compensation…
Relative Speed of the Mail to California
"News was received every ten days by pony. That coming by the Butterfield route was double the time; what came by steamship was from three to four weeks old when it arrived.…
Chorpenning’s Pony Express
"He [George Chorpenning] projected end put into operation the first 'Pony Express' that ever crossed the country, and in December, 1858, delivered President Buchanan's annual message through to California in seventeen days…
Pony Express and Chorpenning’s Assets
"Numerous efforts were now began to be made to secure Mr. Chorpenning's interest and position in the work, but failing in this by direct purchase, influences were brought upon the Post Office Department,…
Greeley on Chorpenning’s Route
"It was over the new stage route that Horace Greeley, in July, 1859, traveled in Mr. Chorpenning's coaches to California, and had his famous ride over the Sierra Nevadas, driven by Hank Monk,…
First Mail from California
"On the 1st day of May, 1851, Mr. Chorpenning left Sacramento City in charge of the first United States mail that ever crossed the country between the States and the Pacific. On the…
Pony Express Using Chorpenning’s Stations
"Russell, Majors and Waddell's pony express company became the immediate beneficiary of Chorpenning's demise. On the same day that Chorpenning' s service was terminated, William Russell signed a contract with the post office…
Delivering Mail Over the Sierra Nevada
"Also in late 1858, Chorpenning attempted to dispel the prevalent attitude among congressmen and the postmaster general that scheduled service was impossible over the Sierra Nevada in winter. Accordingly, he negotiated a $2,000…