California Mustangs
"'The worst imps of Satan in the business. The only way I could master them was to throw them and get a rope around each foot and stake them out,…
Mochilas Were a Later Innovation
"The mochilla [sic] system developed out of necessity—an adaptation made to problems encountered in the daily operation of the Pony Express. There is no indication that these special pouches were ordered and…
75 Ponies
"It took Seventy-five ponies to make the first trip from Missouri to California. The riders of these ponies had 'shoved a continent behind their hooves,' and many people recognized this important fact.…
Breaking Oxen
"Most of [the oxen] were broken to work, but some were not. Over by the corrals sweating bullwhackers were busy making up their teams, yoking them together, and allowing them…
Leavenworth, KS
"Leavenworth, Kansas, at that time a squatter town on the Delaware Indian Reservation two miles south of the Fort, was chosen [in 1855] as headquarters for the firm [Russell, Majors…
Organizing the Pony Express Line
"Ficklin, meanwhile, set about reorganizing the line for the coming Pony Express. The stagecoach route—previously divided into three stagecoach divisions between st. Joseph and Salt Lake City—was now reorganized into…
First Order of Business
"The first order of business in pursuit of Russell's dream [the Pony Express] was revamping the stagecoach line's existing operations. The trusting general superintendent Beverly Williams was replaced by the…
Logistics of Establishing a Pony Express
"But the logistics of a mail relay stretching 1,966 miles from the Missouri River to Sacramento was so daunting that only an incurable dreamer like Russell would have considered implementing…