IN the spring of 1859 the Leavenworth & Pike's Peak Express Company began operations between Leavenworth and Denver, by way of the Solomon and Republican rivers. Not long thereafter the company took over the Hockaday line to Salt Lake City, necessitating a transfer to the Platte route-the old Oregon and Cali fornia trail. This road was longer than the initial trail but enjoyed many natural advantages which made possible a more rapid transit between the Missouri river and the Rockies. The company installed improvements along the route and carried on a large business in the transportation of treasure, mail and passengers between Denver and Leavenworth. In February, 1860, the last trips were made by the Leavenworth & Pike's Peak Express Company, which was now continued as the Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company. The story of the latter organization and the accompanying Pony Express and Pacific Telegraph are treated in this issue, with the concluding phases of the Pike's Peak Express companies. The growing tide of migration to the Oregon country and California led to a growing demand for a railroad to the Pacific coast. As early as 1845 Asa Whitney suggested such a project through the public domain, and a few years later Thomas H. Benton proposed a "Central National Highway" to the Western ocean, to include both a railway and wagon road. [311] During the 1850's repeated proposals of this nature were advanced, but every concrete suggestion as to route foundered upon the rocks of sectionalism. Among the leading advocates of the project was Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, who coupled it with the territorial organization of the Nebraska region, then a part of the Indian country and not open to settlement. In 1852 he introduced a bill to protect the emigrant route and establish a telegraph line and overland mail from the Missouri river to California and Oregon. [314] Despite his strenuous efforts in its behalf, congress

refused to do more than provide for a careful survey of the possible routes, the findings of which suggested five principal roads to the Pacific coast. In January, 1855, Douglas introduced a bill in the senate for a northern, a central, and a southern railroad, but he could not obtain the agreement of both houses. By the late 1850's there was a growing insistence throughout the country that congress act on the matter.

     William M. Gwin, veteran senator from California, was associated with Douglas in the matter of a Pacific railroad. He had long championed improved communication to the East for his constituents, who were now particularly desirous of a quicker mail service than that afforded by the Butterfield ("ox-bow") Overland Mail. Many Californians believed the Central route would give them a: quicker service-it was clearly growing in popularity the country over, but was still objected to by some as neither free of snow blockades, nor of possible attack by Indians or Mormons. [313] Almost equally as insistent as the people of California were those of western Missouri and Iowa and the territories to the west, particularly such ports of embarkation as St. Joseph and Leavenworth. By the close of 1859 St. Joseph was a leading claimant for the terminal of the Pacific railroad-to-be, then envisaged as an extension of the Hannibal and St. Joseph road, already completed to that city, and a telegraph line to California. [314] The St. Joseph Weekly West praised the Central route from that place to Salt Lake City and Placerville (Cal.) as "the route to the Pacific" it "being much shorter and passing over a better watered and grazing country than any of its rivals," whereby "St. Louis and San Francisco can be brought within fourteen days of each other." [315]

New York Tribune as the "most direct and expeditious" for a daily overland mail to California, which could be "easily traversed in sixteen days," and later in fourteen, at an annual cost of not over a million dollars. "Such a mail should have a telegraph working by its side...." [316] Early in 1855, when hostile acts had been committed by the Western Indians, the problem of proper protection of the emigrant routes to California and Oregon was considered by congress. Senator Gwin introduced a joint resolution in the senate (Congressional Globe, January 18, 1855) proposing a "weekly express mail, for rapid communication across the continent, the pioneer of a regular line of mail stages..." between St. Louis and San Francisco, and asserted that he would demonstrate its practicability. Already there were telegraph lines to Kansas on the east, and to the Sierra Nevadas at Placerville on the west, which would shorten the time of actual communication from New York to San Francisco to eight days. "In a short time after the express is established, the telegraph will extend, and our communication be brought down to six days."

     On December 22, 1859, soon after the opening of the 36th congress, Senator Gwin introduced a measure for a Pacific railroad,[317] and on the following January 18 a bill (Senate No. 84) to facilitate communication between the Atlantic and Pacific states by electric telegraph. The latter measure was considerably altered in the house of representatives, and as finally enacted into law (June, 1860) it authorized the advertising of bids for the use by the government of one or more telegraph lines, to be constructed within two years "from some point or points on the west line of the State of Missouri, by any route or routes which the said contractors may select... to the city of San Francisco...." [318] On April 10, 1860, Gwin reported from his committee on the post office and post roads a bill for a 20-day mail service between St. Joseph and Placerville, and the next day insisted on its urgency, wanting the Pony Express, now already in operation, to take back immediately news of favorable action by the senate on a semiweekly mail by the Central route. "It is a matter of such importance to the people of California, that

I dare not, if I wished to do so, postpone it...." [319] In the consideration of these measures, particularly the telegraph proposals, it is more than probable that Gwin conferred with William H. Russell, who was frequently in Washington, concerning a fast pony express service which would supplement the telegraph, until the latter was completed. A combination of the two would make possible, at a very early date, a great quickening of communication, and would help to settle, once and for all, the perennial question of railroad routes to the Pacific. Russell long wanted an improved mail contract, and may well have been given assurances by Senator Gwin toward this end. The success of the Leavenworth & Pike's Peak Express to Denver and Salt Lake City, with its extension to California, was a potent argument toward this goal. A victory of the Central route and an expedited Pony Express and Pacific telegraph which would entirely eclipse the Butterfield interests would be a "clincher" toward a mail contract by this road. [320]

     According to the narrative of Charles R. Morehead, his midwinter trip (November, 1857-January; 1858) across the plains to Utah with Capt. James Rupe to deliver supplies to the army of Albert Sidney Johnston, gave William H. Russell the idea of a pony express:

     We now passed through Nebraska and Kansas Territories, and arrived at Fort Leavenworth on the 26th of January, 1858, which was thirty days out from [Fort] Bridger.
     William H. Russell, head of the contracting firm, wired us to come on to Washington. We took stage to Jefferson City, Mo., and there took the Missouri Pacific Railroad to St. Louis and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to Washington.
     In the estimation of all we had made a splendid trip, and we felt very proud of it. We had traveled about 1200 miles, as the road then ran, in thirty days, in the dead of a severe winter, through hostile Indians and ravenous wolves, in snow every foot of the way, without a change of animals and without grain,-indeed, we walked at least two-thirds of the way.
     After we completed our report,... Mr. Russell took us to see the President, some Senators and members of Congress, and also the Secretary of War and Quartermaster-General. With Mr. Floyd, Secretary of War, the question of the feasibility of a pony express across the continent was presented by Mr. Russell, and fully discussed. Captain Rupe's views were called for, and

he expressed the opinion that it was entirely practicable at all seasons on this route, all the way to California. [321]

     In the Popularization of the Central route from Salt Lake City to Placerville, Cal., it is probable that the veteran mail contractor, George Chorpenning, has not been given due credit. He describes his venture and his pioneer Pony Express in his Brief History of the Mail Service:

      Mr. Chorpenning took a third contract in April, 1858, for a coach service between Salt Lake and Placerville, California, for four years, to commence July 1st following. It was this contract that led him to expend very large sums of money . . . in exploring and opening a new route to California, by which the distance was shortened upwards of one hundred miles; and it was upon this line that he built stations . . . at intervals of about every twenty miles. . .
     At the time Mr. Chorpenning opened and stocked the new route, there was not a single white inhabitant in the entire country between the settlements of Salt Lake and the foot of the Sierra Nevada... The line of mail stations erected at once invited settlers... During this time 922 months). he had opened a complete road, had graded hills and bridged streams. . . .      He projected and 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 eight and a half hours. It was this then wonderful feat, and the running through of coaches weekly in thirty days, that demonstrated the practicability of overland communication, and, for the first time, brought Mr. Chorpenning and the great importance of his work before the public. [322]

     As early as August, 1859, John S. Jones and B. D. Williams of the Pike's Peak Express promoted the idea of a railroad and telegraph to the West, in a meetlng at Denver. [323] Late that year the plans for this venture must have been well advanced, as the idea of a telegraph line was then unofficially reported in an Elwood paper.

     We are informed from a reliable source that it is the intention of Messrs. Jones, Russell & Co., to establish, early in the spring a telegraph line from from this point to Denver City. With their facilities for the undertaking the estimated cost will be only about $45,000.... Every development of the day

points irresistibly to the central route as the line of the great Pacific Rail Road. . . [324]

     One of the best accounts of the founding of the Pony Express is included in the Memoirs of Alexander Majors, of the firm of Russell, Majors & Waddell:

      During the winter of 1859, Mr. W. H. Russell, of our firm, while in Washington, D. C., met and became acquainted with Senator Gwin of California. The Senator was very anxious to establish a line of communication between California and the States east of the Rocky Mountains, which would be more direct than that known as the Butterfield route, running at that time from San Francisco via Los Angeles, Cal.; thence across the Colorado River and up the valley of the Gila; thence via El Paso and through Texas, crossing the Arkansas River at Fort Gibson, and thence to St. Louis, Mo.
     This route, the Senator claimed, was entirely too long; that the requirements of California demanded a more direct route, which would make quicker passage than could be made on such a circuitous route as the Butterfield line.
     Knowing that Russell, Majors & Waddell were running a daily stage between the Missouri River and Salt Lake City, and that they were also heavily engaged in the transportation of Government stores on the same line, he asked Mr. Russell if his company could not be induced to start a pony express, to run over its stage line to Salt Lake City, and from thence to Sacramento; his object being to test the practicability of crossing the Sierra Nevadas, as well as the Rocky Mountains, with a daily line of communication.
     After various consultations between these gentlemen, from time to time, the Senator urging the great necessity of such an experiment, Mr. Russell consented to take hold of the enterprise, provided he could get his partners, Mr. Waddell and myself, to join him.
     With this understanding, he left Washington and came west to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., to consult us. After he explained the object of the enterprise, and we had well considered it, we both decided that it could not be made to pay expenses. This decision threw quite a damper upon the ardor of Mr. Russell, and he strenuously insisted we should stand by him, as he had committed himself to Senator Gwin before leaving Washington, assuring him he could get his partners to join him, and that he might rely on the project being carried through, and saying it would be very humiliating to his pride to return to Washington and be compelled to say the scheme had fallen through from lack of his partners' confidence.
<      He urged us to reconsider, stating the importance attached to such an undertaking, and relating the facts Senator Gwin had laid before him, which were that all his attempts to get a direct thoroughfare opened between the State of California and the Eastern States had proved abortive, for the reason that when the question of establishing a permanent central route came up, his colleagues, or fellow senators, raised the question of the impassability of

the mountains on such a route during the winter months; that the members from the Northern States were opposed to giving the whole prestige of such a thoroughfare to the extreme southern route; that this being the case, it had actually become a necessity to demonstrate, if it were possible to do so, that a central or middle route could be made practicable during the winter as well as summer months. That as soon as we demonstrated the feasibility of such a scheme he (Senator Gwin) would use all his influence with Congress to get a subsidy to help pay the expenses of such a line on the thirty-ninth to forty-first parallel of latitude, which would be central between the extreme north and south; that he could not ask for the subsidy at the start with any hope of success, as the public mind had already accepted the idea that such a route open at all seasons of the year was an impossibility; that as soon as we proved to the contrary, he would come to our aid with a subsidy.
      After listening to all Mr. Russell had to say upon the subject, we concluded to sustain him in the undertaking, and immediately went to work to organize what has since been known as "The Pony Express." [325]

     During January, 1860, the plans for a Pony Express were completed and orders were issued to prepare for a start of the enterprise early in April. [326] The first descriptive dispatch to be published was wrong in asserting that it was to be a government project:

New York, Jan. 25

     A dispatch from Washington says the government is about arranging for a horse express from St. Joseph, Mo., to Placerville, California, to connect with the telegraph to San Francisco, thus securing dispatches from the Pacific in ten days. [327]

     Russell corrected this two days later in a dispatch from Washing ton to Leavenworth:

Washington, Jan. 27th, 1860

     To John W. Russell-Have determined to establish a Pony Express to Sacramento, California, commencing the 3rd of April. Time 10 days. Wm. H. Russell. [328]

     In the founding of the Pony Express it appears that Benjamin F. Ficklin had an important role, [329] second only to William H. Russell, as is indicated by the following initial account in the Washington (D. C.) Evening Star (January 30, 1860)

AN IMPORTANT ENTERPRISE
      We learn that Beni. Ficklin, Esq., a gentleman connected with the business of Messrs. Russell and Major, the well known Army contractors, left this city on Saturday last for the Far West, to establish an independent horse express across the Plains, to California, which shall make the trip between the extreme points to which the magnetic telegraph now operates, in eight days; which for the transmission of news will enable parties in New York and San Francisco to communicate with each other in that time, (eight days) as the time required to communicate by telegraph between New York and St. Joseph's, Mo., and, again, between San Francisco and Sacramento, will be unappreciable, of course.
     Between St. Joseph's and Salt Lake City, Russell and Major have stations every twenty-five miles, and between Salt Lake City and Sacramento Mr. Chorporing [Chorpenning], the mail contractor, has stations the same distance apart. Mr. Ficklin proposes to run the horse express weekly.... The distance between St. Joseph's and Sacramento is sixteen hundred miles, and it is proposed to make (with the express) two hundred miles in the twenty-four hours, traveling night and day. A hundred letters (embracing telegraph messages) paying $5 each will pay the expense of the trip;... operations will commence in April next.... One of the best points in the affair is, that they do not propose to ask Government pecuniary assistance; a new feature, indeed, in any such far western enterprise. [330]

     Without further details of the new venture, both Leavenworth papers hailed the news of the Pony Express as a great development, and assumed that Leavenworth would serve as the eastern terminal. The Times ran the following headings:

     The seemingly impossible was about to be accomplished; the "superior advantages of Leavenworth... are becoming duly appreciated; and to this token of it we are indebted to the enterprise of Wm. H. Russell." [331]

     In order to assure a more sound legal basis than had been possessed by the Leavenworth & Pike's Peak Express, the organizers of the Pony Express applied for articles of incorporation by the legislature of Kansas territory, which were passed by that body and approved by Gov. S. Medary February 13, 1860.332 In the section on express companies Chapter CXLIII of the private laws for that session constituted the new charter, under which the stage company and the Pony Express were now to operate:

AN ACT to incorporate the Central Overland California and Pike's peak Express Company.
Be it enacted by the Governor and Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Kansas:

SECTION 1. That William H. Russell, John S. Jones, Benjamin F. Ficklin, Alexander Majors, Benjamin C. Card, Webster M. Samuel, Jerome B. Simpson, William B. Waddell, William S. Grant, Luther R. Smoot, John W. Russell, Joseph A. Monheimer, and their associates, successors and assigns, be and they hereby are declared to be a body corporate and politic, by the name, [of] "The Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company

[statement of the usual corporate powers followed].

SEC. 2. The capital stock of the said company shall be five hundred thousand dollars, and shall be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each.., such company may increase its capital stock... as may be deemed necessary.
SEC. 3. The said company may commence business as soon as its capital stock shall be fully subscribed for.
SECS. 4-6. [These referred to officers, meetings and government of the corporation.]
SEC. 7. The said company shall have power to establish, maintain, and operate any express, stage, passenger, or transportation route or routes, by land or water, for the conveyance of persons, mails, and property from, to, and between any place in Kansas, and any place in or beyond the limits of Kansas, and to create and organize branch companies for the same purpose, and to build, hire, establish, and maintain storehouses, warehouses, and other buildings for the safe keeping of goods, wares, and merchandise and other property.. , and shall have the power of exploring for minerals, and of mining gold and other ores and metals, and cleansing, refining, and manufacturing the same, and assaying gold or other precious metals.
SEC. 8. That the principal office of the said company shall be kept at Leavenworth city, unless... changed by the vote of two-thirds of the directors.
SECS. 9, 10. [SEC. 9 concerned meetings of the directors, and SEC. 10 investment of surplus.]
SECS. 11-13. [Regulations for disposal of unclaimed freight; insurance, and change of name.]
SEC. 14. This act shall take effect immediately.

EDWARD LYNDE,
Speaker pro tem. of House of Representatives.
W. W. UPDEGRAFF, President of the Council.
Approved February 13th, 1860.
S. MEDARY, Governor [333]

The legislative report of the Leavenworth Times remarked that this was "the great bill of the session" which "if carried out to the fullest extent" would "astonish the natives." It would place Leavenworth "in nearly a straight line from the cities East to the gold fields of the West." [334] This account follows:

     It is with the greatest pleasure we feel enabled to announce to the public that the Legislature of Kansas has passed the act granting a charter to the Central Overland Express Co., which will run from Leavenworth to the Pacific Coast via the Gold Region. This enterprise is one of a mammoth character, and will play a great part in the rapid development of the vast region lying between the Missouri and the Pacific. In fact we believe we are not predicting too much when we aver that the establishment of this Express Route will mark the line of the Pacific Railroad. The beneficient results likely to flow from this enterprise were so thoroughly appreciated by the Legislature that the charter passed both Houses without a dissentient vote-a fact as marvelous as it was creditable.
     We are informed that the incorporators of the Express Company will lose no time in effecting an organization and putting this great enterprise into effective operation.... It is only necessary for us to say that our honored fellow citizens-Win. H. Russell, Wm. B. Waddell, John S. Jones and Luther R. Smoot, head the great enterprise, to convince all that the company will accomplish whatever they attempt, and exceed the anticipations of the most sanguine. These great mariners of the Plains represent an executive ability, a comprehensive knowledge of the wants and necessities incident to overland trade and travel, a fearless independence, a profuse liberality, a faith in Western resources and capabilities, which will make their names conspicuous in the growth and progress of an almost illimitable Region of which it may be truly said
                      The elements of Empire here are plastic yet and warm,
                      The chaos of a mighty world is rounding into form. [335]

     A few days later the Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company was formally organized under the new charter, the old firm of Jones and Russell was bought out, and a new slate of offIcers chosen, which included William H. Russell as president.

     

THE NEW OVERLAND EXPRESS COMPANY

     The Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company was organized yesterday under a liberal charter from the Territorial Legislature, with A. Majors, John S. Jones, Wm. B. Waddell, B. C. Card, W. S. Grant, Kerome]. B. Simpson, and Wm. H. Russell as Directors; Wm. H. Russell, President; J.B. Simpson, Vice President; J. W. Russell, Secretary and Treasurer, and B[enjamin]. F. Ficklin, General Road Agent. They have purchased the old company of Jones, Russell & Co., who are running the Pike's Peak

     Express and Utah Male [sic] Line, for the sum of five hundred thousand dollars, and will continue to run the same, together with the Pony Express to Sacramento, California. Time to Carson City, ten days, and to Sacramento, twelve days. [336]

     Although the partners of William H. Russell appear to have been reluctant to embark on a venture with so precarious a future, once the matter had been decided and the "C.O.C." organized, the "spade work" was speedily undertaken. In this Benjamin F. Ficklin played a leading role [337] as chief field man under William H. Russell, a position similar to that of John S. Jones as general superintendent of the Leavenworth & Pike's Peak Express. Even before the new company had been formally organized Jones & Russell advertised for 200 grey mares to be used on the "horse express":

WANTED

TWO HUNDRED GREY MARES,

from four to seven years old,
not to exceed fifteen hands
high, well broke to the saddle, and

WARRANTED SOUND,

With black hoofs, and suitable for running the "Overland Poney Express"

JONES, RUSSELL & Co.

Feb.10-1w [338]

     Among the more urgent preliminary matters were those of providing a suitable route for the fast express line and sufficient stations for the riders. A dispatch from St. Joseph, March 15, 1860, indicated that this was well under way:

     We learn that the arrangements of Jones, Russell & Co., for a pony express from this place to California are fast being consummated. A portion of their ponies, riders, and agents have arrived here, and yesterday they started to determine the route, and locate the stations. They expect to commence running about the 5th of April, and will go through in ten days. It is thought

     they will locate the starting point of their messenger and fast freight line, but is is not fully decided yet. [339]

     Work of a similar nature was proceeding on the Western end of the line between Salt Lake City and Sacramento-the old Chorpenning mail route, which was very inadequately supplied with stations. It was decided to shorten the line at some places-a notable change to be the adoption of the new road surveyed by J. H. Simpson southwest of Salt Lake City. [340] On March 23, 1860, the Sacramento Union announced that W. W. Finney, superintendent of the Western end of the line, had already finished plans for his division with the purchase of 129 mules and horses (about 100 of the latter called ponies), and a train had already been dispatched to stock the line as far as Eagle Valley. From thereto Salt Lake City this work was to be carried on from the Mormon metropolis. The stations were to be about 20 to 25 miles apart, so that the ponies might travel to the next station and return once a week, and thereby accommodate a weekly service in each direction. [341] In carrying out this work Finney ran into much trouble in the Sierra region east of Placerville, where late snows greatly increased the cost of feed and provisions, much of which had to be packed on the backs of mules. In this extremity Ben Holliday, who was already operating local stages of his own, came to the rescue of Finney by cashing drafts of the Pike's Peak Express Company, and the work of construction was finished according to schedule. [342]

     Late in March the New York Daily Tribune, in its classified column headed "Steamboats and Railroads," carried the following announcement of the Pony Express and Western telegraph:

     The first courier of the Pony Express will leave the Missouri River on TUESDAY, April 3, at 5 o'clock, p. m., and will run regularly weekly thereafter, carrying a Letter-Mail only.
The point of departure on the Missouri River will be in telegraphic connection with the East, and will be announced in due time.
Telegraph messages from all parts of the United States and Canada, in connection with the point of departure, will be received up to 5 o'clock p. m., of the day of leaving, and transmitted over the Placerville and St. Joseph telegraph wire to San Francisco and intermediate points, by the connecting Express, in eight days. The Letter-Mail will be delivered in San Francisco in ten days from the departure of the Express.
The Express passes through Forts Kearney, Laramie, and Bridger, Great Salt-Lake City, Camp Floyd, Carson City, the Washoe silver mines, Placerville, and Sacramento.
Letters for Oregon, Washington Territory, British Columbia, the Pacific Mexican ports, Russian Possessions, Sandwich Islands, China, Japan, and India, will be mailed in San Francisco.
Special Messengers, bearers of letters to connect with the Express of the 3d of April, will receive communications for the Courier of that day at No. 481 loth st., Washington City, up to 2:45 p. m., on FRIDAY, March 30, and in New York at the office of J. B. Simpson, room No. 8 Continental Bank Building, Nassau St., up to 6:50 a. m., of 31st March.
Full particulars can be obtained on application at the above places and Agents of the Company.

WM. H. RUSSELL, President.

Leavenworth City, Kansas, March, 1860.
Office in New York--

J. B. SIMPSON, Vice-President.

SAMUEL & ALLEN, Agents, St. Louis.

H. J. SPAULDING, Agent, ChIcago. [343]

     In an editorial comment the Tribune remarked that letters and telegraphic messages would be carried for a $5 fee (incorrect as to telegrams), and added:

     For the present, this Express must make the long detour of Laramie and the South Pass, but it will very soon be run by Denver (or some point on the

South Platte near that city), and so by the White River branch of the Colorado to Salt Lake, saving at least 300 miles, and reducing the express mail time to San Francisco to nine days and the telegraph time to seven days. This is a strictly private enterprise, to be sustained by the voluntary patronage of those who may profit by it; but the Government will often use it to great advantage. The men engaged in it are abundantly able to prosecute it, even at a heavy loss. It is to be run weekly in either direction and we heartily commend it to mercantile favor. [344]

     A few days later the Tribune announced that the first Pony Express would leave St. Joseph at 5 p. m., Tuesday, April 3, and weekly thereafter on the same day and hour, William H. Russell promising a transit to Virginia (Carson) City (then Utah territory), the first station on the California telegraph line, in eight days. [345] The next issue of the St. Joseph Weekly West announced the location of the eastern terminal at that place, rather than Leavenworth, [346] a decision which appears to have been forced upon Russell because of the fact that St. Joseph enjoyed a direct railroad connection with the East, even though he personally favored Leavenworth. From this time on the Leavenworth papers greatly reduced the space they devoted to the Pony Express, and it was even charged by some that Russell had given his home city the "cold shoulder"-no doubt an unfair allegation. [347]

     On April 2, 1860, it was announced from St. Joseph that arrangements had been completed for the departure of the first pony at 5 P. M. on the next day. The Second departure for California would be Friday, April 13, and regularly thereafter on Friday, to avoid a delay over the Sabbath of letters from New York and the East. [348]

     The time to Fort Kearny was to be 34 hours; Great Salt Lake, 124 hours; Carson City, 188 hours; Placerville, 226 hours; Sacramento City, 234 hours; and San Francisco, 240 hours. Telegraphic dispatches were to go to any place in California from any point in the East in about 205 hours. [349] The fee for a letter (one half ounce or less) was fixed at $5, and a dispatch from any point in Eastern United States on telegraph lines to San Francisco, $6.90 for a 10-word message, and 20 cents for each additional word. [350]

     The close cooperation of the Pony Express and telegraph was illustrated by the following announcement of Charles M. Stebbins, superintendent of the Missouri telegraph lines west of St. Louis, which gave the precise details of the sending of dispatches by telegraph:

     We learn from Mr. Stebbins, the Superintendent of the lines west of this city, that they commence receiving despatches for the California Pony Express to-day. Each message will be numbered, and will be forwarded from the first station of the telegraph line in Carson Valley in the same order as received here. Parties wishing their despatches to take precedence must therefore send them in early. The lines will receive despatches up to 5 p. m. of Tuesday next. Triplicates will be sent, and every precaution will be taken to prevent their destruction by water or wear and tear. The tariff from St. Louis to any point in California, including express and all other charges, will be $5.30 for the first ten words, and ten cents for each additional word; and if messages fail to go through ahead of any other route, the money will be refunded. The rates from New York and other Atlantic Cities are $6.90 for ten words, and twenty cents for each additional word, subject to the same conditions. [351] [On May 22, 1860, the Tribune quoted the charge for extra words as 30 cents.]

     The Pony Express was inaugurated April 3, 1860, with a celebration at St. Joseph in honor of "the greatest enterprise of modern

times," which a border paper hailed as a seeming "impossibility," but one which they were confident would be accomplished, due to the "well known energy" of its president and directors. It promised to "benefit St. Joseph in a very marked and visible degree." Messages would be received up to 4:30 P. M. of the inaugural day, and would be carried across the continent in the quickest time on record. [352]

     The first Express was scheduled to leave the United States Express office of Hinckley & Co., in St. Joseph at 5 P. M., but was slowed up by the delay of the messenger from New York and Washington with the Eastern dispatches. [353] While the pony and its rider waited, a great crowd of people gathered. The assembled multitude "being desirous of preserving a memento of the flying messenger, the little pony was almost robbed of his tail." [354] Mayor M. Jeff. Thompson and Messrs. Russell, Majors and others made brief and appropriate addresses, setting forth the advantages to be derived from this "magnificent undertaking." [355]

     This is but the precursor, as Mr. Majors justly remarked, of another, a more important, and a greater enterprise, which must soon reach its culmination, viz : the construction of the road upon which the tireless iron horse will start on his long overland journey, opening up as he goes the rich meadows of nature, the fertile valleys, and crowning the eminences of the rocky range with evidences of civilization and man's irresistible mania of progression.. Of a truth, "the desert shall blossom as the rose." [356]

     At about 7 P. M. the messenger arrived, making possible a departure at 7:15, thereby delaying the first Pony Express only about two and a quarter hours.

     At 7 ¼ oclock, the bag containing voluminous telegraphic dispatches from all parts of the country for The Sacramento Union, The San Francisco Bulletin and The Alta California, together with 49 letters, 5 private telegrams, and some papers for San Francisco and intermediate points, was, by the request of W. H. Russell, placed upon the pony, a spirited bay mare, by Mayor

     Thomason [Thompson], amid great enthusiasm, when the little bay dashed off at a rapid rate, bearing her burden toward the Golden State. [357]

     The St. Joseph Weekly West gave further details about "Billy" Richardson, the Pony Express rider on this occasion, and the "fine bay mare" that was to run the first lap of the long journey:

     Horse and rider started off amid the loud and continuous cheers of the assembled multitude, all anxious to witness every particular of the inauguration of this. . . enterprise. . . . The rider is a Mr. Richardson, formerly a sailor, and, a man accustomed to every description of hardship, having sailed for years amid the snows and ice bergs of the Northern ocean. He was to ride last night the first stage of forty miles, changing horses once, in five hours; and before this paragraph meets the eyes of our readers, the various dispatches contained in the saddlebags, which left here at dark last evening, will have reached the town of Marysville on the Big Blue, one hundred and twelve miles distant-an enterprise never before accomplished even in this proverbially fast portion of a fast country. [358]

     On the same day that the "spirited bay mare" left St. Joseph with "Billy" Richardson the rider, a "little nankeen-colored pony" left the San Francisco office of the Alta Telegraph Company, on Montgomery street, with James Randall as its rider, on a like mission to the East.[359] The 2,000 miles of plains, mountains and deserts that intervened between the Missouri river and the Pacific coast included some of the wildest regions of North America, the worst part of which was the desert and mountainous stretch between Salt Lake City and Sacramento. For a long distance, however, the route followed was largely that of the Oregon and California trail by way of the Platte, which was relatively improved, and was substantially

the same road as that of the overland mail to Salt Lake City and California. The following description of the Pony Express trail is probably one of the best accounts:

     The route from St. Joseph, after crossing the Missouri river, lay a little south of west until it struck the old overland military road at Kennekuk, forty-four miles out. Thence it diverged a little northwesterly across the Kickapoo Indian reservation via Granada, Log Chain, Seneca, Ash Point, Guittard's, Marysville, and Hollenberg; up the charming Little Blue valley to Rock Creek, Big Sandy, Liberty Farm, and over the rolling prairies to Thirty-twomile Creek; thence across the divide and over the prairies and sand-hills to the Platte river and due west up the valley to Fort Kearney.
     Westward from Fort Kearney the road for 200 miles was along the Platte river, near the south bank of the stream, via Plum Creek, Midway, Cottonwood Springs, Fremont Springs, O'Fallon's Bluffs, Alkali, Beauvais Ranch, and Diamond Springs, to old Julesburg. Here the South Fork was forded, and the pony moved northwesterly and went up Lodge Pole creek, across the country to Thirty-mile Ridge, and along it to Mud Springs; thence to Court-house Rock, past Chimney Rock and Scott's Bluffs, and on to Fort Laramie; thence over the foot-hills at the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, via South Pass, to Fort Bridger, Salt Lake City, Camp Floyd, Ruby Valley, the Humboldt, Carson City, Placerville, Folsom, and Sacramento, where the pony was changed for the steamer to San Francisco. [360]

     As the ponies on the first trip sped toward their destination, reports of their passage were brought back by the mail coaches they met along the way, which indicated that from the start the Pony Express had adhered to its schedule. [361] Around midnight, May 14, 1860, when the pony reached San Francisco by the boat Antelope from Sacramento, a great throng roared an enthusiastic welcome, the band played "See, the Conquering Hero Comes," bonfires were lighted, the speechmakers "studied their points," and a riotous celebration continued until nearly morning. [362]

     Just ten days after its departure from San Francisco the first eastbound Pony Express arrived in St. Joseph and was awarded a most enthusiastic welcome. A St. Joseph newspaper remarked:

     The Pony Express arrived in our city at five o'clock yesterday afternoon, just ten days from San Francisco. The event was duly and grandly celebrated last night, by fire-works, firing of cannon, parade of the military, and illumination of Market square.... Twenty, or even ten years ago, the man who would have suggested such an event would have been termed a lunatic. Hurrah, then, for the Pony Express and its enterprising proprietors. Long may they live, and soon be the time when the "Iron Horse" shall supersede the Pony. [363]

     The Leavenworth DailyTimes remarked that now the Pacific was in close proximity to the Atlantic. The run from San Francisco to Salt Lake City was made in two days and twenty hours and had there been no snow in the mountains the whole trip would have been completed in eight days.

     Nor is this great triumph to be without fruit.... Government is laggard. In all that relates to the interest of the West..., it has been niggard as well as laggard. It can be so no longer. This great success of private energy will prick the mind of the country to the necessity of Western wants, and compel Government to attend to these wants quickly and well. [364]

     The initial dispatches by Pony Express and telegraph from the Pacific coast did not appear in the St. Joseph Weekly West until the following week (April 21), with a schedule of arrivals en route, and words in appreciation of the work of Benjamin F. Ficklin as general superintendent.

     The number of letters brought through was eighty-five. The complete success which has attended the first trip... is due in no small degree to the efforts of Ben. Ficklin, the efficient superintendent, who has been over the route and has the general management of the enterprise. [365]

     A summary of Pacific news followed, dated San Francisco, April 3, 1860, which set the pattern for later Pony Express dispatches. This same news appeared in the New York Daily Tribune, April 16, being delayed a day by the activities of a band of horse thieves be-

tween Kansas City and Leavenworth, who cut the wires in several places. The publication of this news only 13 days after its transmission at San Francisco meant a great victory of the Pony Express and its collaborators, the Pacific and Overland telegraph companies, for the Central route, over the Butterfield line. [366] From this time on, as long as the Pony Express was in regular operation, the Pacific and Oriental news was sent by this route, which with the telegraph on both ends made possible a marked saving of time, a transcontinental transit now being possible in about 10 days. This was a potent demonstration of the desirability of the Central route, which could be understood by everyone. [367] A few weeks later the majority report of the special committee of congress on the Pacific railroad was made public. It favored the central route by the Platte valley and Great Salt Lake, with branches from the western boundaries of Iowa and Missouri. The committee concluded that this was by far the most important emigrant route, with many settlements along the way, including the Pike's Peak and Washoe mining areas, and enjoyed the advantages of easy grade and few streams to bridge. [368] As one historian concludes: "No single influence did more to give prominence to the Platte trail than the decision to use it for the pony express, which was started in 1860." [369]

     From the very start the Pony Express attained a regularity of service which could be depended upon. When for any cause it was delayed immediate concern and disappointment was voiced by the

public. The following dispatch from St. Joseph illustrates this feeling:

     The Pony Express, due here yesterday, has not yet arrived, and is now twenty-four hours behind time. The delay is probably caused by high water in the mountain streams. The last express coming East, while going at a rapid rate in the night, the horse stumbled over an ox lying in the road, throwing the rider, and the horse fell upon him, so badly crushing him that it was feared he would soon die. Notwithstanding this accident, the express arrived here on time. The express leaving here tonight will take out a full summary of news and detailed accounts of the great prize fight [Heenan vs. Sayers] and other European advices up to the 18th. This will put the news from London and Liverpool through to California in the short space of twenty days. [370]

     The Pony Express considerably improved communications with both Europe and the Orient, particularly when it made good connections with a departing messenger. Oriental news along with that from California, Oregon, British Columbia, and occasionally from Mexico, was regularly dispatched to the East, while Eastern and European news went by this medium to the Pacific. The Pony Express with San Francisco dates of May 11, 1860, reported:

     The Japanese corvette sailed homeward via Honolulu on the 7th inst., having been completely repaired at the Navy Yard free of charge. A farewell festival was given to her officers.... She started immediately after the arrival of the Pony Express.... Her homeward trip will be a complete transmission of news around the world in quicker time than ever before made. [371]

     In May, 1860, the directors of the Pony Express opened an offIce in New York City where letters would be received up to the close of business on Tuesday, and telegrams to a corresponding time on Saturday, to be dispatched on the westbound Pony Express at 11 P. M. on Saturday, and announced the following schedule of rates:

     The tariff is as follows: for ten words, [by telegram] $6.90, and for each additional word, thirty cents. The express charges are: letters weighing half an ounce or under, $5; over half an ounce and under an ounce, $10; in all cases to be inclosed in government stamped envelopes, and all express charges

     Prepaid. Persons sending letters by this express should see that they are thoroughly dried, to prevent mildew. [372]

     Almost from the beginning the Pony Express was threatened by Indian attack, since its route traversed the Indian country for long distances. In April, 1860, rumors of impending hostilities were general in the West. The war actually began May 7 with an attack by Pah-Ute Indians on the station of J. O. Williams, in which seven men were killed and the house burned. [373] The westbound Pony Express apparently got through ahead of the main outbreak, with news of the attack, which quickly spread over a wide territory of Carson Valley and forced the closing of numerous stations along the route toward Salt Lake City. The Express due at St. Joseph May 28 arrived a day late, bringing dispatches from Salt Lake, but none from California, and with the following note attached to the Salt Lake way bill:

     The rider has just come in. The Indians have chased all the men from the stations between Diamond Spring and Carson Valley. The pouch in which the express matter is carried is lost.

     The problem of "chastizing" the Indians was naturally beyond the resources of the Express company. W. W. Finney, division agent at San Francisco, told of attacks along the line and described his efforts to obtain aid from General Clark, in command at the San Francisco Presidio. Finney admitted that the Pony Express was an individual enterprise, with no right to call for protection, but since it used the same route as that of the United States mail he believed it deserved government protection, which might be accomplished with 75 armed men. Since Clark could not spare that many, Finney despaired of the consequences. [375] When news of the attack on the Pony Express arrived in Washington a number of congressmen requested the intervention of the War Department. Sec. John

B. Floyd directed the commandant at Camp Floyd to dispatch enough men to protect the route through the zone of trouble. [376] The settlers sent a small force against the Indians, which met destruction in an engagement near Pyramid Lake, causing a wave of panic throughout Carson Valley. [377] A large force supported by regulars then decisively defeated and scattered the Indians under Winnemucca in fighting along the Truckee river, June 2, but did not end the Pony Express troubles, which continued for about a month thereafter. During this time additional stations were destroyed, several more agents were killed, and stock was run off. [378]

     On June l, 1860, an announcement was made at San Francisco that Pony Express service had been suspended until the route could be properly safeguarded. [379] Both Sacramento and San Francisco advanced funds to reopen the line, [380] and a company of "twenty picked men, well armed," left Carson City to accomplish this, and to cooperate with the federals from Camp Floyd. On June 22 the first westbound Express arrived at Carson Valley with all the mail of the detained Expresses, bearing St. Louis dates to June 9, and the prospect of reestablishing the enterprise was a matter of general congratulation. [381] An Express reached the Pacific coast June 30, but a two weeks' interruption followed, which caused much concern, the politicians being "almost frantic for intelligence from the Baltimore convention, having received news only up to the time of organization, and that by all the routes, ocean and overland." [382] Finally the Express of July 1 arrived at San Francisco on the 16th, with letters carried by the preceding pony, and reported that the delay was due to waiting west of Salt Lake for an escort of soldiers. Traveling with them it was possible to make only 40 miles per day. The route between Carson Valley and Salt Lake was then cleared of Indians and well stocked, promising well for the future. [383] This undertaking was not finished, however, until William C. Marley

returned to San Francisco in the fall of 1860, after completing the work along 400 miles of the line eastward from Carson Valley. [384] Late in August Col. F. W. Lander reported having interviewed the principal Pah-Ute chief, Numaga, who promised to keep his warriors quiet for a year, until the dispute could be probed at Washington, thereby ending further danger to the Pony Express and overland route. [385]

     The Pah-Ute war necessitated a large additional outlay by the Express Company, said to have been upwards of $75,000.[386] Although temporary, it was a distinct setback and gave the Butterfield overland mail a brief chance to regain its lost business, and "anticipate" the news dispatches of its rival, while the telegraph by this southwestern route was being extended at both ends of the line, in a race for supremacy. [387] The general public did not blame the company for the suspension of service. It resulted in a keener appreciation of the need of better federal protection of the overland routes, gave the Pony Express even more publicity, and demonstrated the high regard in which it was already held by the people along the way, particularly in California. [388]

     By August 1, 1860, popular confidence in the regularity and permanence of the Pony Express had been generally restored-it now served as a regular carrier of the California and Oriental news,[389] just as the Pike's Peak Express did that of the Colorado region. Accidents did occur, however, as the one chronicled in the following dispatch.

     The pony which should have brought the express letters, with St. Louis dates to Aug. 4, arrived at Carson River on the morning of the 15th, without rider or letter bags. The supposition is that the horse threw the rider and got away, or else that the Indians killed the rider, took the letter-bags, and allowed the horse to escape-the latter part of the theory not being probable, as the Indians would have kept the horse also. The pony arrived at the

station only a few hours behind time; so that the accident, or whatever was the matter, must have happened but a short distance east of Carson Valley. [390]

     The importance of the Pony Express as a carrier of news to the people of California was heightened by the presidential campaign of 1860. By October of that year there was intense anxiety in that state concerning the result of the Pennsylvania election, which was held a month early, because of its bearing upon the spirited contest in California.[391] When the news arrived by telegraph and Pony Express it created a sensation, making the Republicans exceedingly jubilant and encouraging them to put forth their greatest efforts to carry the state for Lincoln. [392] The first eastbound pony after the November election with California returns passed the outer telegraph station at Fort Kearny early on November 22, but failed to leave its news dispatches, causing a wail of disappointment. [393] These first dispatches reported a very close contest, with Lincoln leading over Douglas by only a few hundred votes, and an official recount necessary. [394] About a month after the election an Express arrived at Fort Kearny with news that Lincoln had a safe plurality, ending public suspense. [395] Besides the regular westbound Express with preelection news which left St. Joseph November 5 for California, an extra left Fort Kearny the day after that event, with considerable ceremony, as related in the following account:

     An extra Pony Express with the election returns for California left here for Carson Valley at 1 o'clock today.... Both rider and horse were tastefully decorated with ribbons, &c, and they departed amid the cheering of a large and enthusiastic gathering. The run is expected to be quicker than ever yet made between here and the outer station of the California telegraph lines. The ponies leaving St. Joseph on Thursday, 8th, and Sunday morning, 11th, are also to make double quick time, calling here for the latest telegraph dates." [396]

     This Express arrived in Salt Lake City, 950 miles distant, in three

     With the approach of winter operation of the Pony Express was threatened by the heavy snows that prevailed along portions of the route. As early as late October a severe storm of wind, hail and snow struck the Julesburg area, forcing the emigrant trains to gather around the stage station, and detaining the Pony Express five hours. [399] On December 1, 1860, William H. Russell officially announced a change of schedule of the Pony Express for the winter months, with an increase of time to 15 days between St. Joseph and San Francisco, and 11 days between the outer telegraph stations of Forts Kearny and Churchill.

     This Schedule will be continued running as now semi-weekly trips during the winter, or until Congress shall provide for a tri-weekly Mail Service, which alone will enable the company to return to present or a shorter schedule, the present mail service between Julesburg and Placerville being only semi-monthly, which is not sufficient to keep the route open during winter.

Wm. H. RUSSELL,

President. [400]

     Late in December a Pony Express rider was reported to have frozen to death. [401] Yet despite the storms of winter the Expresses

arrived with marked regularity, later in the season often reaching their destination considerably in advance of the slower winter schedule, thereby confounding the enemies of the Central route who had argued against the possibility of such a feat.

     The election of Lincoln was the signal for a great flood of secession threats and moves in the Southern states, the news of which formed the general topic of conversation on the Pacific coast. During the following months, when the issue of secession hung in the balance, the Pony Express and Western telegraph played an important role in the rapid dispatch of news, thereby aiding in the retention of California in the union.[402]

     The message of President Buchanan to congress was sent by telegraph and Express across the country in about 12 days and published in the San Francisco papers, thereby increasing public anxiety, although the press in general favored moderation and the preservation of the union. [403] Several arrivals of the Pony Express were delayed, occasioning immediate concern, whereupon both houses of the California legislature passed a resolution asking financial aid of congress.[404] The Pony Express carried news to the East of a great union celebration in San Francisco, February 22, 1861, which was as generally observed as a Fourth of July ceremony. A California dispatch asserted:

     California entirely repudiates the project of a Pacific Republic as visionary, mischievous and impossible; that the true attitude of the people of California at this time of trouble is that of fraternal kindness toward the people of all the States.... It is generally conceded that this impromptu Union demonstration was the largest mass meeting ever held in San Francisco. [405]

     As the day of Lincoln's inauguration approached the people of California grew increasingly fearful of a dissolution of the union and followed the Eastern dispatches by Pony Express with growing anxiety. The speeches of Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, and news of

the latter's inauguration at Montgomery, Ala., brought widespread despair. [406] Perhaps the greatest feat of the Pony Express service was the delivery of President Lincoln's inaugural address in record breaking time. In order to surpass all previous performances, each horse along the line was led out from the different stations, and each traveled a stretch of only about 10 miles. Every precaution being taken to prevent delay, a transit was accomplished in the unprecedented time of seven days and seventeen hours over the 1,950-mile course. [407]

     The announcement of the make-up of Lincoln's cabinet gave general satisfaction to the people of California, and renewed their hope that war might be averted. These anticipations were rudely shattered by the outbreak of hostilities, which became the engrossing topic of conversation.

     As each pony arrives, and the news is received by telegraph, thousands of people congregate in the streets and central localities, continuing for hours discussing the points.
The sentiment here is almost universal to sustain and encourage the Administration in its present policy. [408]

     In May, 1861, a demonstration in support of the union was staged in San Francisco which surpassed anything previously held.[409] When military campaigns and battles became the order of the day California awaited the arrival of the pony with great eagerness. [410] The historian, Hubert Howe Bancroft, paid a tribute to the Pony Express for its work in keeping the people of California properly informed:

     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.... It was the pony to which every one looked for intelligence; men prayed for the safety of the little beast, and trembled lest the service should be discontinued. Telegraphic dispatches from New York were sent to St. Louis, and thence to Fort Kearney, whence the pony brought them to Sacramento, where they were telegraphed to San Francisco. Great was the relief of the people when Hale's bill for a daily mail was passed, and the service changed from the southern to the central route.

     ... After all it was to the flying pony that all eyes and hearts were turned; and to the praise of the St. Joseph company be it recorded that they kept up the service, at a loss, until the telegraph was completed across the continent in October, 1861. . .[411]

     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 of $1,000,000. The Butterfield mail line was to be moved north to the Central route, to function thereafter as the Overland Mail Company, with a government contract. This firm entered into a subcontract with the Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company to run a daily mail and Pony Express from the Missouri river to Salt Lake City, while the Butterfield firm, now better known as Wells, Fargo & Company was to continue the serv ice from Salt Lake to Sacramento. [412] The Pony Express section of the law provided:

     They [the contractors] shall also be required during the continuance of their contract, or until the completion of the overland telegraph, to run a pony express semi-weekly at a schedule time of ten days eight months and twelve days four months, carrying for the government free of charge, five pounds of mail matter, with the liberty of charging the public for transportation of letters by said express not exceeding one dollar per half ounce." [413]

     Pony Express rates were now drastically reduced to $2 for a half ounce or less, and some months later (July, 1861) to $1 for the same amount. [414]

     As had been envisaged by its founders, the Pony Express was only a temporary arrangement, to be automatically terminated by the completion of a telegraph line to the Pacific. In June, 1860, congress passed the initial measure for a Pacific telegraph, which authorized the advertising of bids for one or more telegraph lines from western Missouri to San Francisco.[415] Early in October it was announced that Hiram Sibley, the president of the Western Union Telegraph Company and long a champion of a Pacific telegraph,

was the successful bidder. [416] During the winter of 1860-1861 measures were taken to speedily complete a telegraph line to the Western coast. Jeptha H. Wade of Western Union arranged the consolidation of the California telegraph lines into the California State Telegraph Company, with the Overland Telegraph Company incorporated as a subsidiary, in order to erect a line to Salt Lake City. [417] To provide for the eastern end of the line the Pacific Telegraph Company was incorporated by the legislature of Nebraska to enforce the provisions of the Sibley contract. [418] The problem of a suitable route was an urgent matter, concerning which Sibley had already deputed Edward Creighton to examine the one via Fort Smith, and another via Memphis. Neither proving desirable, Creighton and W. R. Stebbins personally surveyed the Central or Pony Express route to California and in April, 1861, Creighton reported his willingness to construct a telegraph line by this road, [419] although ef forts were still made in favor of the old Butterfield route. [420] The whole idea of a transcontinental telegraph was ridiculed by some, particularly as courting attack by the Indians. President Lincoln told Hiram Sibley he thought it a "wild scheme"-that it would be "next to impossible to get your poles and materials distributed on the plains, and as fast as you build the line the Indians will cut it down." [421]

     The building of a telegraph line to the Pacific meant the final extinction of the spectacular and heroic Pony Express. After all pre-

liminary details had been arranged, [422] large gangs of men were organized to begin work along the route. An expedition of 228 head of oxen, 26 wagons and 50 men left Sacramento for Carson Valley, may 27, 1861, to begin laying wires toward Salt Lake. [423] On July 11, 1861, the first pole for the Overland Telegraph in the Salt Lake area was planted in the main street of that city. [424] East from that point for a distance of 400 miles W. H. Stebbins directed construction work, and about the same time (July 4, 1861) Edward Creighton performed a like function on the section from Omaha westward. [425] Late in August the outer telegraph station on the eastern end was established 95 miles west of Fort Kearny, and soon thereafter the eastern leg of the Pony Express west of St. Joseph was abandoned. [426] The same process went on at the western end, with the moving of the outer station eastward. By the last of July it had reached a point 125 miles east of Carson Valley and was progressing at a rate of 25 miles a day. [427] By early October the outer station on the east was only 340 miles east of Salt Lake City, indicating the rapid progress made in completing the line.[428] The final joint in the

eastern section was made at Fort Bridger, Utah, October 17, 1861, and the next day Brigham Young sent a message to Jeptha H. Wade, congratulating him on the completion of the Pacific Telegraph to Salt Lake City, and assuring him of the loyalty of Utah to the union. [429] On October 24, 1861, the first message from the Pacific to the Atlantic was sent by Chief Justice Field of California to President Lincoln:

     The people of California desire to congratulate you upon the completion of the great work. They believe that it will be the means of strengthening the attachment which binds both the East and the West to the Union, and they desire in this, the first message across the continent, to express their loyalty to the Union, and their determination to stand by the Government in this, its day of trial. They regard that Government with affection, and will adhere to it under all fortunes.
Stephen J. Field, Chief Justice of California [430]

     The next day it was officially announced at San Francisco that the Pacific and Overland telegraph lines had been completed, with the following salutation: The Pacific to the Atlantic sends greeting, and may both oceans be dry before a foot of all the land that lies between them shall belong to any other than our united country. [431]

     Pres. J. H. Wade of the Pacific Telegraph announced that over 200 private messages passed over the line on the first day, and continued as fast as the operators could transmit them. [432] A celebration of the event had been planned in San Francisco, but was postponed because of the untimely death of Sen. Edward D. Baker. [433] A dispatch from that city remarked:

     Fort Laramie, excepting a short interval between Cottonwood Springs and Julesburg, which the contractor. Edward Creighton, promised would be soon completed. He had recently started a gang of men working east from Salt Lake City; west of that point Mr. Street had been equally energetic and poles were being set at a rate of eight miles per day despite some difficulty in their procural.

     The completion of the last link of the American Telegraph connects Cape Race with the Golden Horn, traversing nearly 5,000 miles with one continuous wire, and bringing those two points within two hours telegraphic time of each other. The next westward extension of the line will be by the way of Behrings Straits to the mouth of the Amoor River, to which point the Russian Government is already constructing a line, commencing at Moscow. This is the extension which Mr. P. D. Collins projected.... [This] will leave scarcely anything further to achieve in telegraphic enterprise. It will unite America with Europe via Moscow, and.. . with all the important points in China, India, Yedo, in Japan, and even Melbourne in Australia. [434]

     Pres. Bela M. Hughes of the "C.O.C." announced the following telegraph stations on the route to the Pacific (excluding the terminals) : Fort Kearny, Cottonwood Springs, Overland City, Fort Laramie, Horse Shoe, Pacific Springs, Fort Bridger, Salt Lake City, Camp Floyd, Ruby Valley, Fort Churchill, Carson City, and Placerville. [435] The Pony Express was now ended but in its death it enjoyed the honor of giving way to one mightier than itself, a medium which could do in minutes what it took days to accomplish with horseflesh. The St. Louis Democrat reviewed the great progress in overland communication of recent years-the Butterfield stage line in 25 days, the Pony Express and telegraph in 12 days (or less), and now the Pacific and Overland Telegraph in some 100 minutes. "If any one doubts that this is a fast age, he can here find a striking illustration." [436] As a Kansas paper remarked concerning the "Progress of the Telegraph":

     It was thought last year, and truly too, that the Pony had accomplished wonders when he had given us a communication with the Pacific coast in from six to seven days. But now the Pony has become a thing of the past-his last race is run. Without sound of trumpets, celebrations, or other noisy demonstrations, the slender wire has been stretched from ocean to ocean, and the messages already received from our brethern on the Pacific coast, most conclusively show that the popular heart beats in unison with our own, on the absorbing question of the preservation of the Union. [437]

     On October 26, 1861, the San Francisco office of Wells, Fargo & Company, operators of the western end of the Pony Express, was directed to stop its service, but it was not until November 20 that

the last pony left Sacramento on the boat for San Francisco.[438] Financially it had not been a success, as the following words of Alexander Majors indicate: As anticipated, the amount of business transacted over this line was not sufficient to pay one-tenth of the expenses, to say nothing of the capital invested.... [It] was undertaken solely to prove that the route over which it ran could be made a permanent thoroughfare for travel at all seasons of the year, proving, as far as the paramount object was concerned, a complete success.[439] The projectors did achieve a signal victory in advertising the Central route, which was adopted by the Pacific and Overland Telegraph lines, and later the Union Pacific railroad. Having obtained a subcontract from their rivals, they thus achieved the coveted goal of a daily mail to the Pacific which with the Pony Express and telegraph went a long way toward ending the isolation of that section. It was another step in man's conquest of nature, as great for the nineteenth century as his conquest of the air is for the twentieth.

     The courser has unrolled to us the great American Panorama; allowed us to glance at the future home of a hundred million people, and has put a girdle around the earth in forty minutes. [440]

     Late in February, 1860, the Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company took over the running of Jones and Russell's Leavenworth & Pike's Peak Express. There was no interruption in service, which continued as before, but henceforth the prefix "overland" came into more frequent use, although strictly speaking this term was applicable only to the western extension to Salt Lake City and California.

     Early in the spring of 1860 there were reports of an unprecedented tide of people on the move to the new land of gold-by March great crowds were congregating at the "jumping off" places such as Leav-

enworth and St. Joseph. [441] Early that month it was reported at Leavenworth:

     The Overland Express from this city is crowded to excess, all the seats being engaged to April 1st, at which time the proprietors will commence running coaches thence [tri]< weekly, and soon thereafter a daily line. The running time to Denver is seven days. [442]

     The crowding of the westbound coaches led one traveler to remark that no "particle of fault" could be found with the arrangements made by the company although a load of nine passengers lengthened the trip one day. [443] Another advised prospective passengers to "make a contract prohibiting the company from putting into the coach more than six persons, for I had the (exquisite?) pleasure of riding all the way with two others on the same seat, and speak advisedly of the comfort (?) and convenience (?) thereunto attached." [444] Eastbound traffic was naturally much less, but often amounted to four or five passengers, several of whom were usually well supplied with "dust." Benjamin F. Ficklin now made a considerable improvement in the direct management of the line, the former superintendent, John S. Jones, concerning himself chiefly with his freight express to Denver (Jones & Cartwright). [445] The rush of emigrants induced the city of Leavenworth to survey a new and better road by way of the Smoky Hill to Pike's Peak, but it was never popular enough to compete with the older Oregon and California trail and in 1860 was of no particular concern to the Pike's Peak Express Company. [446]

     By virtue of its charter the Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company was authorized to convey "persons, mails, and property" to any destination desired. It now assumed the Hockaday contract for a weekly mail service to Salt Lake (reduced by the government to fortnightly, but later partially restored), and in May, 1860, the George Chorpenning contract for the Salt Lake City to Placerville route was declared forfeited, and a semimonthly service was awarded to William H. Russell. The "C.O.C." now had complete control of the Pacific mail service by the Central route. [447] It inherited the Pike's Peak mail businessa private service without government contract supported by a 25-cent fee on each letter handled, in addition to the government charge. In early 1860 the mail to Denver became very heavy and the Washington authorities recognized the need of an improved service by advertising a U. S. mail route directly to California. The Utah contract forced the Express Company to route its overland mail to St. Joseph, where it was picked up or deposited by route. Early in April the city of Leavenworth employed Green Russell, the famed Pike's Peak pioneer prospector, to locate a suitable road to the new mining region. At the same time two citizens of Leavenworth went to Washington to obtain a grant for a railroad by this same route. On May 5, 1860, Russell made a detailed report of his survey, which vvas entirely favorable.-Ibid., May 19, 1860. See, also, the account of James Brown, in Leavenworth DailyTimes, August 28, 1860. On June 22, an expedition under the command of HT T. Green left Leavenworth to open this road. Late in the summer the Rocky Mountain News (August 28 in the Times of September 6) gave a detailed account of the report of Green, with reflections on the earlier Pike's Peak Express route as contrasted to the new Smoky Hill road, and the following spring (1861) the report was published in pamphlet form, in the interest of the emigrant trade. The western extension of this proposed road-from Denver to Salt Lake City, then became of much interest to the officials of "C.O.C."

the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad, and at times the mail for Leavenworth was thereby delayed, to the benefit of Atchison and St. Joseph.[448]

     The mail facilities enjoyed by the settlers in the Pike's Peak region still left much to be desired, causing considerable criticism of the "C.O.C.," as was evinced by the following dispatch of Albert D. Richardson, Jul.y 3, 1860:

     The express brings in and takes out about five thousand letters per week, for which the writers and recipients are compelled to pay twenty-five cents each, in addition to the Government postage. The recent "letting" of the mail contract to this place is believed to be merely a nominal affair, it is expected that the Pike's Peak Express Company will control it, and compel us to submit to this heavy tax through the season. [449]

     In August, 1860, E. F. Bruce concluded the first government contract to carry the United States mail from Julesburg, where it was left by the C.O.C. and P.P. Express, to Denver. He seems to have been forced to engage the C.O.C. to complete the service to that city, the first coach with the United States mail leaving Denver for Leavenworth August 14, 1860.[450] Hinckley & Co. carried the mail from Denver to the various mining camps. Richardson described the situation in his regular letter to the Tribune:

     Up to the present time the gold-seekers on the mountains have been supplied with their letters and papers by Hinckley & Company's Express. That line has sometimes forwarded seventeen hundred letters in a single day, and during the month of July it paid the Central Overland and Pike's Peak Express nearly $5,000 for letters and papers.... Upward of twenty thousand miners are recorded in its books. The people of Denver were surprised and pleased on Friday, by the reception of the first United States Mail ever brought to this region. It contained six thousand letters, and came through from the Missouri River in six and a half days. It was brought by the Pike's Peak Express Company, which, after all, is to supply us mail matter. The contract time from the river is fourteen days, and the intention was to throw off the mail sacks some two

hundred miles east of Denver, and permit them to lie there a week; but there was no messenger on the coach, and they were brought through by mistake. [451]

     When Bruce could not carry out the terms of his contract a second agreement was concluded by the Post Office department with the Western Stage Company, whose line ran west from Omaha to Fort Kearny and now became the chief competitor of the Pike's Peak Express Company for the Colorado trade. [452] Early in September, 1860, a regular United States mail left St. Joseph weekly and a Pike's Peak Express triweekly, letters being sent by express if so requested at an extra charge of 25 cents, but by the middle of that month this fee was reduced to 10 cents. [453]

     During the summer of 1860 the coaches of the "C.O.C." carried larger and larger shipments of gold dust from the Pike's Peak region, notably exceeding those of the previous year. Starting with a few thousand dollars worth, the amounts of treasure grew to some $12,000 or $15,000 a trip. This included gold in private hands and that shipped by express in the care of an express messenger, who with the driver tended to become a regular fixture of each coach. A coach arrived at Leavenworth late in August with $35,000 in the care of the messenger, and $100,000 in private hands. [454] One reached St. Joseph about three weeks later with $45,899 in its official care, plus some $50,000 in private hands. [455] Many passengers apparently preferred to carry their own treasure, although in September it was announced that the company would thereafter regularly maintain a messenger in its triweekly coaches.[456] The Rocky Mountain coaches of Hinckley & Co. first brought gold dust from the mining camps to Denver, where it could be coined at the new mint of Clark, Gruber & Co. Besides that transported in the form of dust by Pike's Peak Express to Leavenworth, Atchison or St. Joseph, growing amounts were now being taken to Omaha by

Hinckley & Co.'s express via the coaches of the Western Stage Company. [457] This growing competition apparently cut into the income of the "C.O.C." in all three lines of business-express, mail and passenger, and threatened the future of the stage company.

     Late in July, 1860, William H. Russell presided at a meeting of the directors of the C.O.C. & P.P. Express Company in Leavenworth, at which it was resolved to reduce the passenger fare from the Missouri river to Denver to $75, and also the fee on letters by Pony Express. [458] This began a program of rate reduction apparently aimed to regain lost trade-in September the express fee for letters to Denver was lowered from 25 cents to 10 cents in an an nouncement headed "Speed Increased! And Rates Reduced." [459] The triweekly coaches were scheduled to make the trip in 12 days, the winter schedule being considerably slower than the regular one.

     In November, 1860, Albert D. Richardson made a trip over the stage line from Denver to St. Joseph, and wrote a vivid sketch of what he found:

     On the morning of the 6th inst. I left the metropolis of the gold region for this city [St. Joseph], by one of the tri-weekly Concord coaches of the Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company. As there were twelve passengers beside the drivers and express messenger, and the regulations of the line forbid carrying more than six persons in a coach, two vehicles left that morning, and came through together.... The travel eastward from the mines is now so heavy that the company is compelled to send through an extra with almost every regular coach.
     Nearly all the passengers brought in gold dust; and though the express messenger carried only $3,000 or $4,000, there was upward of $30,000 on the two coaches. The route (the Platte) is now enlivened by hundreds of miners, on their way to the States, by private conveyance, to spend the Winter; and long caravans of wagons bound for the gold region, and laden with flour, sugar, coffee and whisky. A few stray buffaloes, journeying toward the South,

scores of sly and sullen wolves, and great herds of agile, spotted antelopes, were seen from the road, before reaching the "settlements." The company keeps. in active service, upon the. Pony Express and the Stage Line to Denver (exclusive of its Salt Lake and California routes), 906 mules, 439 horses, and 55 coaches. If the next Congress shall give it... a daily mail contract to California, it will... astound "old fogyism." Nature and commercial laws have settled the question that the Pacific Railroad must pass through this central region.... The route from Denver to St. Joseph and Leavenworth is better stocked, I believe, than any other stage line in the United States... [460]

     The winter of 1860-1861 was a very severe one on the plains, causing the delay of the Pike's Peak Express coaches on a number of occasions. A driver on the overland route to Salt Lake City was reported to have frozen to death near Fort Laramie, and heavy snow in the mountains west of Carson Valley and along the Platte also caused trouble. [461] On the whole, however, fairly good service was maintained, although the C.O.C. & P.P. was now confronted with keener competition for the Rocky Mountain trade from the Western Stage Company and Hinckley & Company's Express.

     The congressional session of 1860-1861 failed to provide for a daily mail to California by the Central route. Many Californians regarded the defeat of "Hale's Bill" a bitter pill and blamed Senator Gwin as chiefly responsible. Gwin may have been thinking of another alternative which would bring him the glory of obtaining an improved service by this route-he at least urged Buchanan to conclude a contract with Russell, Majors & Waddell for a triweekly mail by the Central route . [462] The partisans of the Central route renewed their efforts in the short session of congress of 1860-1861 and achieved their goal in the Post Office Appropriation Act, enacted March 2, 1861. [463] This law ordered the discontinuance of service on the Butterfield route by the following July l and the substitution of a daily mail on the Central route, such service to be "six times a week on the central route, said letter mail to be carried through in

twenty days time, eight months in the year, and in twenty-three days the remaining four months of the year, from some point on the Missouri River connected with the East, to Placerville, California, and also to deliver the entire mails tri-weekly to Denver City, and Great Salt Lake City...."[464] A few days later a contract was concluded with the Overland Mail Company, representing the Butterfield interests, which made the federal statute effective. [465]

     Preparations were quickly made so as to be ready for the beginning of service July 1, 1861. The Overland Mail Company now signed a subcontract with the Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company whereby the Pike's Peak firm was to continue operation on that part of the line from Salt Lake City eastward at an annual compensation of $475,000. West of that point the Butterfield people were to assume complete control. A message from Washington asserted:

     W. H. Russell, President of the Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company, and founder of the Pony Express, has concluded a contract with the Overland Mail Company, transferred by the last Congress to the Central route, to run the Mail and Pony from the Missouri River, connecting with the Overland Company at Salt Lake City. [466]

     Early in April it was announced that the last coach on the Butterfield route had left 10 days before and that the stock, coaches and other supplies were then being removed. [467] Considering the short period of time before the daily mail contract was to become effective, details of route and improvements along the way were urgent matters. The people of Denver wanted the mail to pass directly through their city and on behalf of the Express Company John S. Jones proposed that they construct the new stations and bridges necessary for this ehange. [468] Russell and the officials of the

Pike's Peak Express fully realized the strategic importance of Colorado to their firm and scheduled a meeting of the stockholders at Denver, April 26, 1861. At this meeting the board of directors was reorganized by the election of Bela M. Hughes to the presidency, in place of Russell. [469] Hughes was a cousin of Benjamin Holladay and his presidency apparently inaugurated a transitional period in the history of the company, in which Holladay's large loans made him virtually a silent partner. The directors were so favorably impressed with preliminary reports of a route by the way of Denver that they instructed a party of surveyors and teamsters to carefully examine the terrain so as to avoid the necessity of stocking the route between Julesburg and Camp Crittenden (late Camp Floyd), while still supplying Denver as required by their contract. [470] Hughes and Russell arrived in Denver May 6, 1861, and a few days later an expedition commanded by Capt. E. L. Berthoud, and including the famous scouts, James Bridger and Tim Goodell, left under Pike's Peak Express Company auspices to locate a suitable route over the "Snowy Range." Soon thereafter Berthoud discovered the pass which bears his name, [471] and Russell, who had been touring the mining districts, took a trip by coach up Clear creek to the principal range-the contemplated route for the overland mail, and made a very favorable report.[472] He then hurriedly returned to Leavenworth and laid the matter before the directors of the company, who decided on a more detailed survey of the route from Denver to Salt Lake, to be directed by Berthoud and Bridger. An expedition under their command left the eastern slope of the Rockies on July 6 and returned to Denver September 27, 1861, with the report that an entirely favorable route for a wagon road had been found, over the central range, which was "shorter, nearer and more accessible than the most sanguine could expect." [473] Bela M. Hughes

added that from Denver to Salt Lake City this route "far surpasses the present troubled road," and gave "facilities for a continuous line of settlement the whole way from Denver westward" which would eventually shorten the distance to Salt Lake and California approximately 300 miles. [474]

     A careful survey of the route from Denver to Salt Lake City via Berthoud pass. would necessitate an extended reconnaissance. The contract for daily mail service was to become effective July 1, 1861, and this forced the "C.O.C." to take recourse to the old Platte route. Extra coaches were now distributed along the line, to make possible an increase of trips.[475] Stocking of the stations under the Butterfield contract began in April, with the plan of having them average some 15 miles apart, according to the terrain of the country, each to be well supplied with men, horses and coaches, a trip across country to be completed in 15 days. [476] The first through daily coaches on the Central route left St. Joseph and Placerville simultaneously on July 1, 1861, and both arrived at their destination on July 18, in a few hours over seventeen days-well ahead of the contract schedule of 25 days.

     The initial departure from St. Joseph apparently attracted little attention, although the first eastbound mail from Placerville was accorded a great ovation at that end of the line:

     The first overland-mail coach started from Placerville on the 1st, escorted out of town by an immense concourse of citizens, with bands of music and cannon firing. The coach and horses were decorated with American flags. There were six bags of letter mail and twenty-eight bags of newspaper mail, in all weighing 1,776 pounds. [477]

     A Salt Lake City dispatch heralded the first arrivals at that point and conceded that so far as time was concerned the overland mail was already a success.

     The first Overland Daily Mail Stage arrived in the city this afternoon, between 5 and 6 o'clock, and in a few minutes after started West again, having nine days to accomplish the journey, which the Western daily stage has made in less than seven days. The first Overland Mail from the West arrived here on Sunday evening last, about 10 o'clock, and today it arrived at 4 p. m. So far, then, as time is concerned, the Central Overland Mail is a success. Passengers arriving from the West have some hours to rest in this city, as it is considered impracticable to attempt during the night the passage through the mountain defiles that lead into the city from the East... [478]

     The first coach across the continent to arrive at St. Joseph carried three passengers, among whom was Maj. J. W. Simonton, an editor of the San Francisco Bulletin. Bela M. Hughes said the Express line "solved the problem of overland transportation," and was "the avant-courier of the great railroad line." [479]

     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 extension of the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad. The terminal of the Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company was accordingly moved to the new location, partly because it would be more free from involvement in the Civil War then raging in Missouri. [480] President Hughes replied to an attack upon him and the company, denying that when the office of the firm was located in St. Joseph it discriminated against union men and branding as entirely false the charge that four-fifths of the employees were secessionists. [481] The future of the company necessarily demanded a clear record in this matter.

     The overland mail service to California was performed with con-

siderable efficiency during the first months of its operation, for which it received due praise. [482] In the fall of 1861 an article appeared in the Atchison Champion expressing the determination of the officers to adhere to the regular schedules:

     The trip from here to Placerville still continues as a general thing to be made in several hours less than the advertised time, which is seventeen days. The officers of the company are determined to keep within their advertised time, and with the ample means in their possession and their indomitable energy, this will be accomplished. A large number of sleds of the best description were sent west some time ago, and distributed at different points where needed, so that the interruption will be slight, if any, from the fall of snow. With careful drivers, experienced and courteous conductors, and comfortable coaches, the trip in pleasant weather is but a holiday excursion, and crossing the continent under these circumstances is a trifling affair, occupying but little time and attended with no danger. [483]

     During the winter of 1861-1862 service on the overland route was sometimes delayed by heavy snow and floods, at the worst of which newspapers arrived a month late. The Postmaster General stated that the mails had been fairly regular, although the service had "not been entirely satisfactory to the department." [484] Despite complaints, the California legislature made a clear-cut declaration on the importance of the daily mail to that state, and the stage stations to the continuance of the telegraph.[485]

     The Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company's financial troubles were growing in urgency by the fall of 1861. About the middle of October it announced "greatly reduced rates" to California and intermediate points, the fares from the Missouri river being: To Fort Kearny, $25; Overland City, $50; Denver City, $75; Fort Laramie, $75; Fort Bridger, $110; Salt Lake City, $125;

and Placerville, $150. Although this made no change in the fares to Denver or California, which had been previously reduced, it apparently was the first public announcement, aimed to popularize the stage line for long distance travel, since passengers for the Pacific coast were usually few in number. The time to Denver was six days and to Placerville 17 days. [486]

     In commenting upon this announcement the Freedom's Champion indicated that the financial soundness of the company was then being questioned, and branded as false the rumor that there had been an attempt to rob a Pike's Peak Express coach:

     It is useless to speak of the excellence of this line, the safety of its transportation, and the obliging character of its employees.
Absurd falsehoods have been started to injure the Line, but they die out before the force of truth. This line is of great advantage to Kansas, and we may expect assaults on it in various ways.
The mail pay alone for each ninety days service is $120,000. The Company has earned a quarter's pay, which was due September 30th, and will be paid in a few days. It has a claim for back pay, which we learn will be allowed to it, of $93,000, and on the 31st day of December, another $120,000 will be due to it, thus throwing into circulation in Kansas in a very few weeks $333,000 of Uncle Sam's money.
There are persons inimical to the Government, who are predicting that it will not be able to pay the Mail Contractors, &c, c.
We have authority for stating that the pay of all the mail contractors in the Union will be promptly met as soon as the certificates of the service are sent forward to the Post Office Department.
Now we have a report of an attempted robbery of a Coach on the Plains and of five robbers being killed by the passengers! This has gone out all over the land as a fact, when it is a remarkably unblushing impudent lie... [487]

     It should be pointed out that the newspapers at least printed almost no accounts of robberies of the Pike's Peak stages, leading one to believe that fiction writers may have later invented such episodes, which became a body of legend, rather than fact.

     The rigors of the winter season of 1861-1862 appear to have administered the final "coup de grace" to the already tottering finances of the Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company. One writer points out that "unprecedented floods, deep snows and blizzards broke up the service for days at a stretch and increased expenses," delaying the mails and holding up the contractor's pay. [488] The history of the previous years had been one of repeated and heavy outlays, without a corresponding income. As Majors stated in his memoirs:

     It so transpired