Greeted with great fanfare and excitement, the first ride of the Pony Express, on April 3, 1860, was reported by newspapers across the country. The first mochila of mail included a letter from Pres. James Buchanan to Gov. John Downey of California, congratulating him on the Pony Express. Forty riders participated in the Express’s first sprint across the country, which ended in downtown Sacramento at 5:45 pm on April 13, exactly 10 days after the first rider had left St. Joseph. The festive welcome in Sacramento (bands playing, bells ringing, and people standing on balconies and rooftops waving flags, singing, and shouting) was repeated hours later in San Francisco after the mail was conveyed to its final destination by the large side-wheeler steamboat Antelope. With the historic first ride, the Pony Express fulfilled its promise to get the mail from St. Joseph to San Francisco in 10 days. Never before in history had letters been delivered over such a distance so quickly.

Rough rides, dangerous stations

Although there is no record of the exact number of stations along the Pony Express route, historians estimate that there were about 190. The station keeper’s responsibilities included the saddled readiness of a change horse for the incoming rider and the keeping of an accurate record of the riders’ arrival and departure times. The distance between stations, determined by the distance a good horse could run at a full gallop over that particular terrain, was usually 10–15 miles (16–24 km). In flat country, where the trail was not difficult, stations were farther apart; in the mountains they were closer together. Some of the worst locations in terms of access to natural resources and vulnerability to attacks by Native American groups were between Salt Lake City and Carson City, Nevada, but it was dangerous working in any of the isolated, indefensible cabins, most of which could be easily overrun.

Not much is known about the stations themselves, but in most cases they were hardly built for comfort. Most of the relay posts consisted of small simple cabins, with a few stalls and a corral for the horses. All but the best stations had dirt floors. Glass windows were unknown, and the furniture often consisted of empty wooden crates. Food at the smaller stations was little more than sufficient to keep the workers from starvation: cured meats, dried fruit, flour for bread baked in an open fire, molasses, pickles, coffee, and cornmeal. The home stations were much bigger, with extra sleeping quarters for a couple of riders. Here a rider could eat at a more leisurely pace, chat with the station keeper and his assistants, and above all get a good rest in preparation for his next demanding trip.

Runs were usually about 75–100 miles (112–160 km) long, during which the rider changed horses from four to seven times. Home stations were established along the route about every 75 miles. The exact placement was determined by the terrain and, where possible, by the availability of an already established facility, such as a fort or a stagecoach stop. Like relay stations, home stations had horse stalls and a corral. When the rider arrived at a home station, he removed the mochila from his horse and threw it over the saddle of the fresh horse, and the new rider would leap into the saddle and be off. For the first few weeks of the service, riders carried a rifle as well as a pistol. However, it soon became apparent that rifles were too heavy and awkward to be practical, so the riders stopped carrying them. Some riders carried horns to signal the relay station of their approach.

Pony Express riders faced a host of perils. In addition to the discomfort and danger of the rough terrain, harsh weather, insects, and scarce water on the trail, hostile Indigenous groups threatened riders and station keepers alike. Indeed, in the spring and summer of 1860, the Pony Express found itself in the middle of the Pyramid Lake War with the Paiute people in Nevada, a conflict that is believed to have begun at Williams Station about 30 miles (48 km) east of Carson City on the Carson River.