1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:06,280 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey guys, welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:10,200 Speaker 1: where we bring you a new tidbit from history every day. 4 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:27,160 Speaker 1: Today is April three, twenty nineteen. The day was April three, 5 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:32,600 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty. The first mail delivered via Pony Express left 6 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: from St. Joseph, Missouri, on a rider in horse relay 7 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:40,240 Speaker 1: to Sacramento, California. The rider used the Motila, which was 8 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:43,080 Speaker 1: a leather cover over a horse's saddle that riders used 9 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:46,360 Speaker 1: as a mail bag. The Motila included a letter from 10 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:51,199 Speaker 1: President James Buchanan to John Downey, the governor of California. 11 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 1: The letter of congratulations have been telegraphed that morning from Washington, 12 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 1: d C. To St. Joseph. That first ride and the 13 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: entire an Express service was great at getting mail across 14 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:07,000 Speaker 1: long distances as compared to the extremely inefficient mail delivery 15 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: process that was standard at the time, But the Pony 16 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:14,039 Speaker 1: Express didn't last two years thanks to technological advances in 17 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:19,240 Speaker 1: money woes. In the mid eighteen hundreds, mail delivery to California, 18 00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:23,040 Speaker 1: a brand new state, was slow. Stage coaches could take 19 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:27,280 Speaker 1: weeks to carry mail overland, and steamships took circuitous routes 20 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:30,520 Speaker 1: around South America are through the Isthmus of Panama or 21 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:33,640 Speaker 1: the Isthmus of Torontepec in Mexico to make it to 22 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:37,919 Speaker 1: its final destination. But the twenty four day overland service 23 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:41,160 Speaker 1: from Missouri to California was just not going to be 24 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:44,640 Speaker 1: sufficient anymore, as the approach of the Civil War made 25 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:49,080 Speaker 1: fast mail delivery imperative. The origins of the idea for 26 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: the Pony Express have been linked to several people, including 27 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,760 Speaker 1: California Senator William M. Gwyn u S, Secretary of War 28 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:01,920 Speaker 1: John B. Floyd, and Benjamin Fickland. Regardless, the private freighting 29 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 1: firm Russell Majors and Waddell set out to create the 30 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company, better known 31 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:14,800 Speaker 1: as the Pony Express. St. Joseph, Missouri a prime location 32 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:18,080 Speaker 1: because of its access to the East through railroads and telegraph, 33 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:22,520 Speaker 1: which chosen as the eastern terminus of the mail route. Sacramento, 34 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: California's capital, would be the western end of the route. 35 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:30,359 Speaker 1: The route started off following the Oregon Trail, then departed 36 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:33,800 Speaker 1: from that trail west of Salt Lake City, Utah. It 37 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: traveled through the modern day states of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, 38 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:43,320 Speaker 1: and California and covered a distance of more than eighteen 39 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: hundred miles or kilometers. Benjamin Fickland was a superintendent of 40 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:52,399 Speaker 1: the route, and he divided the route into five divisions, 41 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:56,120 Speaker 1: with superintendents for each. There were about two hundred relay 42 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:59,320 Speaker 1: stations ten to fifteen miles apart along the route, where 43 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:01,960 Speaker 1: riders would transfer the motila to the next mount and 44 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:07,600 Speaker 1: change horses every about twenty miles. There were home stations 45 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:10,119 Speaker 1: where riders would eat and sleep after handing the mail 46 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:13,440 Speaker 1: off to the next rider. More than four hundred horses 47 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:16,400 Speaker 1: were purchased for the route, and station keepers and stock 48 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:20,120 Speaker 1: tenders were hired. In addition to riders, riders had to 49 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:23,919 Speaker 1: meet specific requirements. They had to be brave, relatively thin, 50 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:26,600 Speaker 1: experienced riders with knowledge of the trail They would be 51 00:03:26,639 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: assigned to and ad ran in the Sacramento Union on 52 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:34,760 Speaker 1: March nineteenth, eighteen sixty to recruit the perfect workers it 53 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 1: read man wanted. The undersigned wishes to hire ten or 54 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:42,640 Speaker 1: a dozen men familiar with the management of horses, as 55 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: hustlers are riders on the Overland Express route the Assault 56 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: Lake City wages fifty dollars per month and found found 57 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:55,080 Speaker 1: means room and board. On April three, eighteen sixty, the 58 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:57,920 Speaker 1: first rider, Johnny Fry, took off on his horse around 59 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:01,240 Speaker 1: seven fifteen pm and headed west, crossing the Missouri River 60 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 1: by ferry and speeding across Kansas for ninety miles until 61 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: it was time for him to hand off the proverbial baton. 62 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:11,280 Speaker 1: Forty writers took part in that first delivery to Sacramento, 63 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:14,800 Speaker 1: and by five pm on April thirteenth, the last writer 64 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:18,840 Speaker 1: arrived in Sacramento too much fanfare. The mail was then 65 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 1: taken by the steamboat Antelope to San Francisco. We may 66 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 1: scoff at the delivery time today, since we're spoiled with 67 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: overnight shipping and the promise of drone delivery, but the 68 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 1: Pony Express took only ten days on average to deliver 69 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:35,760 Speaker 1: mail from Missouri to the West coast the Pony Express 70 00:04:35,839 --> 00:04:39,120 Speaker 1: his best time was seven days and seventeen hours when 71 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:43,600 Speaker 1: riders delivered Abraham Lincoln's inaugural address from Nebraska to California. 72 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:49,159 Speaker 1: There were some notable riders too, like Robert Pony Bob Haslam, 73 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:52,680 Speaker 1: who in May eighteen sixty traveled three hundred and eighty 74 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:56,240 Speaker 1: miles in less than forty hours because another relay writer 75 00:04:56,440 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 1: was afraid he would run into pie eat people's who 76 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 1: had been attacking stations. The Pony Express was successful and 77 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:07,159 Speaker 1: that the riders delivered more than thirty five thousand pieces 78 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: of mail in record times and only one bag of 79 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:13,279 Speaker 1: mail was reportedly lost over the course of its year 80 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:17,840 Speaker 1: and a half run. But ultimately the Pony Express failed 81 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:21,640 Speaker 1: because the service was too expensive for average people. There 82 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:25,600 Speaker 1: was conflict among executives in various setbacks, meant the company 83 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:29,320 Speaker 1: couldn't afford to support the service. It never turned a profit. 84 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:33,480 Speaker 1: Even more pressing, though, was the connection of the East 85 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,360 Speaker 1: and West coast by a transcontinental telegraph line in October 86 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:41,760 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty one. The Pony Express shut down in November. 87 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:45,840 Speaker 1: I'm eaves, Jeffcote, and hopefully you know a little more 88 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:49,880 Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. And just an 89 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 1: additional note about other mail routes that have been established 90 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:57,520 Speaker 1: before the Pony Express. Ganghis Khan also instituted a horse 91 00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 1: relay to deliver messages, and America newspapers used horse relays 92 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 1: between New York and Boston between eight and eighteen thirty. 93 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:09,680 Speaker 1: If you'd like to follow us on social media, you 94 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:13,920 Speaker 1: can find us at T d i h C Podcast 95 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:19,480 Speaker 1: on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Come back tomorrow for another 96 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 1: tidbit from history.