Pony Express

In March 1860,

western newspapers

ran the following ad:

Pony Express

• A new company that promised to carry mail from Missouri to California in only ten days.

• They built relay stations about every ten miles along the route. At each station, a rider jumped off his weary horse and mounted a fresh pony.

• After changing horses about 8 times, the mail was handed to a new rider.

Dangers Along the Route

• Most dangerous area was the Utah Territory. – Paiute Indians thought riders

were a threat to their hunting grounds and would lead to more settlement.

– Indians burned stations and killed the station keepers.

The Telegraph Arrives

• 1861: Pony Express comes to an end. • Telegraph companies had hired men to cut

down trees and place tall, strong wooden poles in the ground from Omaha, Nebraska, to San Francisco, California.

• The first message sent over the wire from Salt Lake City said, – “Utah…is firm for the Constitution and laws of our

once happy country.” -Brigham Young

• Two days later, the Pony Express officially ended.

Why did the Pony Express die once the telegraph lines were

completed?