Steamers usually took the mail back and forth; a Pony rider would board the ship, enjoy the ride, then gallop off to deliver the letters. Deliveries went as far as Oakland, on the far side of San Francisco; a rider would come off at Martinez, then ride up through the hills and down to the town. This was roughly a twenty-four-mile trip; riders would do it in under two hours, returning to catch another boat bound upriver to Sacramento.
