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Pony Express Day is on April 3 every year. This annual observance celebrates the innovative founders and brave riders who made up the Pony Express, quick delivery, and mail service of the early 1860s. The Pony Express was born back when there were no message delivery and postal services as we know today to link the far west — and most especially, the new state of California — with the rest of the United States. Thanks to its dogged riders and diligent staff, the Pony Express revolutionized the speedy delivery of messages and packages. The mail service ultimately spurred the creation of catalogs and enabled people to purchase products which are delivered by horse.

The Pony Express was a mail service that specialized in the delivery of mail, newspapers, and other packages through horse-mounted riders. This revolutionary mail delivery service operated between California and Missouri for 18 months — from April 3, 1860, until October 24, 1861, when its operations were shut down. The Pony Express was established following California’s population explosion and newfound prominence due to the Gold Rush.

During its 18-month operation, the Pony Express reduced the time for conveying messages to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to about ten days — offering great financial importance to the U.S. The Pony Express preferred to employ young, light, and resilient riders, as the owners believed that lighter riders would enable the horses to run faster and carry more cargo. While the average coast-to-coast trip on horseback took ten days, the trip that delivered Lincoln’s Inaugural Address actually took less time — just seven days and 17 hours! Sadly, the Pony Express struggled financially and folded in 18 months, when the faster transcontinental telegraph service was established. It pioneered the establishment of a unified transcontinental system of communications that could operate around the year.

 

 

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