Pony Express

The Pony Express which began operation on April 3, 1860, was created by William H. Russell, who involved his freight and staging partners Alexander Majors and William Waddell. The service operated over a 2,000 mile route connecting the eastern states at the Missouri River town of St. Joseph, with the state of California. Averaging less than 10 days per run, traveling through the storms and heat of summer, and the snow and cold of winter, through Native American lands and other hazards, the Pony Express became one of the West's most colorful stories.

For nearly eighteen months the Express was in operation over a route that crossed northeastern Kansas on its way to a junction with the Platt Valley trails in Nebraska.

Unfortunately, the company could not afford the experiment. It required approximately 500 horses, nearly 200 stations and a similar number of station employees, and 80 riders. Even with charges of $5 per letter, the company could only recover about 10 percent of its costs. The transcontinental telegraph line, completed by the fall of 1861, sealed its doom. One of the original pony express stops, Hollenberg Pony Express Station State Historic Site, is located near Hanover in Washington County and is administered by the Kansas Historical Society.