BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Natl Postal Museum -- Exhibit (MIA Galleries 2): Binding the Nation (incl Pony Express)

DC -- Natl Postal Museum -- Exhibit (MIA Galleries 2): Binding the Nation (incl Pony Express):

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SIPMBI_191002_016.JPG: The Pony Express: The legendary name of the Pony Express calls up thrilling images of horse and rider racing across treacherous terrain. Yet the actual Pony Express lasted for less than two years (April 1860 to October 1861) and was only one of a number of private express services that used riders to carry the mail. It owes it fame to the romanticizing of the Pony Express and the American West that began late in the 19th century, in Wild West shows and dime novels, and continues to the present. Pony Express riders live on today, still dodging varmints and villains in books and movies, evoking speed and the thrills on countless commercial products.
2. SIPMBI_191002_019.JPG: The Central Route: In 1860, a relay system of horses began to carry mail across the 1,966-mile-long "central route" between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. This privately owned service would become known as the Pony Express. The Pony Express solved an urgent problem for the US government. In the late 1850s political tensions had increased between North and South over slavery and other issues. The government feared losing control over mail along the Southern Route and contact with gold-rich California. To ensure Union control over cargo and mail carried between East and West, a route outside the Southern states was needed.
3. SIPMBI_191002_036.JPG: Length of entire route: 1,966 miles Stations along route: about 165 Distance between stations: approximately 10 miles Each rider rode one segment of the route, 75-100 miles long
4. SIPMBI_191002_038.JPG: At each station, a rider changed horses Every 75-100 miles, a new rider took over A rider changed horses 8-10 times per ride (every 10 miles or so) Average speed: 10 miles per hour
5. SIPMBI_191002_041.JPG: How long did it take to get from Missouri to California? 10 days in summer, 12-16 days in winter (mountain snows can slow you down). In 1860, that was speedy! A stagecoach took 24 days
6. SIPMBI_191002_043.JPG: Whose idea was it? Three business partners -- William Russell, Alexander Majors, and William Waddell -- founded the Pony Express as a private company
7. SIPMBI_191002_054.JPG: Men Wanted!! THE UNDERSIGNED WISHES TO hire ten or a dozen men, familiar with the management of horses, as hostlers or riders on the Overland Express Route via Salt Lake City. Wages $50 per month and found. I may be found at the St. George Hotel during Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. -- William W. Finney
8. SIPMBI_191002_057.JPG: Announcement of the arrival of the first Pony Express delivery, from San Francisco's Daily Alta California newspaper, 1860.
9. SIPMBI_191002_060.JPG: What have you learned RIDING the Pony Express trail?
10. SIPMBI_191002_062.JPG: Q. How many Pony Express riders died in the line of duty?
11. SIPMBI_191002_064.JPG: A. One -- as far as is known for sure. However, a number of Pony Express station workers died during robberies or Indian attacks.
12. SIPMBI_191002_067.JPG: Q. How long did it take to get from Missouri to California?
13. SIPMBI_191002_070.JPG: A. 10 days in summer. 12-16 days in winter. A stagecoach took 24 days.
14. SIPMBI_191002_073.JPG: Q. What was the official name of the Pony Express?
15. SIPMBI_191002_076.JPG: A. Central Overland California & Pike's Peak Express Company (COCPP). When the company ran into money troubles, employees started calling it "Clean Out of Cash and Poor Pay."
16. SIPMBI_191002_079.JPG: At the Movies with the Pony Express "This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." -- "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," 1962 film
17. SIPMBI_191002_081.JPG: At the Movies with the Pony Express "This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." -- "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", 1962 film From The Great Train Robbery (1903) to the present, America's western frontier has been a constant theme for movies. Film and television have given the world its most vivid images of the "Wild West," although those images are often more about legend than fact.
18. SIPMBI_191002_085.JPG: El triunfo de Buffalo Bill, 1953 A Spanish-language version of the 1953 film Pony Express, with Charlton Heston as Buffalo Bill Cody. In his Wild West shows, the real Buffalo Bill Cody promoted the legend of the Pony Express around the world. Hollywood westerns did the same thing. In his memoirs, published in 1909, Buffalo Bill claims to have been a Pony Express rider at age 14. In that job, he says, he ran off armed bandits, saved a woman and her baby from a charging buffalo, killed two Sioux Indians trying to attack him, escaped several attacks with bullets passing only through his clothing, and made the longest ride in Pony Express history. How much of Cody's story do you think he made up?
19. SIPMBI_191002_090.JPG: Pony Express, 1953 In a colorful -- and highly inaccurate -- telling of the first days of the Pony Express, two icons of the Wild West, Buffalo Bill Cody and Wild Bill Hickok, face hostile Native Americans, horrible weather, and mail thieves to get the service up and running. Movies often show Pony Express riders being attacked by Native Americans. But this was not an everyday occurrence in reality. Storms, floods, desert heat, and rough terrain were bigger problems for the riders. Why do movies prefer to show made-up stories rather than real facts?
20. SIPMBI_191002_095.JPG: Pony Express Rider, 1976 Plot: When delivering the mail, a rider searches for his father's killers. By the 1970s, few westerns were made in America. Only one film was produced in the 1970s with a Pony Express theme, this 1976 made-for-television movie.
21. SIPMBI_191002_102.JPG: Via Pony Express, 1933 Actor Jack Hoxie started out as a real-life cowboy, competed in rodeos, performed in Wild West shows, and eventually became a cowboy star in the movies. Like the Pony Express, his life story combines both the reality and the romance of the West.
22. SIPMBI_191002_105.JPG: Pony Express Rider, 1976 Plot: The villain shoots Pony Express rider "Buck Carson" and leaves him to die in the desert, in order to steal the deed of the heroine's ranch. Luckily, the heroine's horse finds him -- still handing on to his mochila -- and saves his life. Buck vows to hunt down the bad guys and get that letter back!
23. SIPMBI_191002_108.JPG: How much are you learning on your journey?
24. SIPMBI_191002_110.JPG: Q. How many ponies did the Pony Express own?
25. SIPMBI_191002_112.JPG: A. The Pony Express NEVER used ponies! They used full-size horses, which were faster and stronger.
26. SIPMBI_191002_116.JPG: Q. How much did it cost to send a letter by Pony Express?
27. SIPMBI_191002_119.JPG: A. Five dollars for a half-ounce of mail. (In today's money, that's equal to $75!)
28. SIPMBI_191002_122.JPG: Q. Did the mail ALWAYS go through?
29. SIPMBI_191002_124.JPG: A. The Pony Express was disrupted only once -- when war broke out between Paiute Indians and white settlers in Utah in May 1860. Service resumed a month later.
30. SIPMBI_191002_128.JPG: Q. How much money did a rider earn?
31. SIPMBI_191002_131.JPG: A. $100-$125 per month, plus room and board. (Pretty good for 1860.) Riders on dangerous parts of the route got $150 per month.
32. SIPMBI_191002_134.JPG: The Founders: The Pony Express was founded by William Russell, Alexander Majors, and William Waddell, partners in freight-shipping business. To start the Pony Express, Majors had to buy more than 400 ponies, build or purchase more than 150 stations, and hire stationmasters and riders -- all in less than three months. It was a bold business venture, but one that rapidly ate up the partners' investment. William Russell: Idea man and chief promoter. Alexander Majors: Oversaw day-to-day operations. William Waddell: Ran the home office and managed the money.
33. SIPMBI_191002_135.JPG: The Station House: Pony Express stations were placed approximately ten miles apart. Riders were assigned 75-mile-long portions of the trail and kept a speedy pace by switching horses at each station. New riders took over every 75-100 miles. While some of the station houses were sturdy structures, most offered only slight protection against the elements. According to the explorer and author Sir Richard Burton, the station house at Sand Springs, Utah, was "roofless and chairless, filthy and squalid, with a smoky fire in one corner, and a table in the center of an impure floor, the walls open to every wind, and the interior full of dust."
34. SIPMBI_191002_138.JPG: Pony Express Station Houses
35. SIPMBI_191002_140.JPG: The Station House More than 150 station houses were used by the Pony Express. Only a handful survive (and even fewer survive intact). The stations were built for use, not longevity. In the years following the service's demise in 1861, buildings that were not being used for other purposes fell into disrepair or disappeared. Not until the operation regained its fame at the turn of the 20th century was much interest shown in locating or preserving them.
36. SIPMBI_191002_144.JPG: Fort Churchill, Nevada The US Army began building Fort Churchill on Nevada's Carson River in the summer of 1860. The army's presence was in response to skirmishes between local settlers and Native Americans. Those hostilities had interrupted Pony Express service for several weeks. The army abandoned Fort Churchill, named for army inspector general Sylvester Churchill, a decade later.
37. SIPMBI_191002_149.JPG: Bucklands Station, Nevada The first station house on this site was originally a saloon built by Samuel Buckland. That building has long since disappeared. This structure was built years after the demise of the Pony Express. The site is operated y the Nevada State Parks Service.
38. SIPMBI_191002_154.JPG: Simpson Springs Station, Utah No rider could risk running out of water while crossing Utah's desert. Because Simpson Springs was a reliable watering spot, Pony Express officials arranged to use an already standing building as a station house. (The building in the photo sites near the location of the original station house.) It was named for Capt. James H. Simpson, who surveyed routes from the Great Sale Lake Desert to western Nevada in 1859.
39. SIPMBI_191002_157.JPG: Gothenburg Station, Nebraska This station house, situated near the Platte River, is one of two locations probably used by the Pony Express in that area. The Gothenburg stations were both created before 1860 to serve travelers headed west. This structure is a re-creation; it was donated to the public and moved to a park in Gothenburg, Nebraska, in 1931.
40. SIPMBI_191002_162.JPG: Hollenberg Station, Kansas Hollenberg Station, along Kansas' northern border, was constructed by Gerat Hollenberg in 1857 for pioneers traveling the western trails. To save money and time, Pony Express officials contracted with owners of existing building whenever possible to house horses and riders. This building also housed the stationmaster's family, a neighborhood store, and a tavern. Riders slept in the loft upstairs. The station was designated a Kansas State Historical site and now includes an active visitors interpretation site and center.
41. SIPMBI_191002_165.JPG: The Mochila: Pony Express riders carried the mail in four pockets of a saddlebag called a mochila, which fit snugly over the saddle. When a rider switched horses, he grabbed the mochila and swung it onto the saddle of the new horse. The letters were wrapped in oiled silk to protect them from moisture. One of the pockets could be unlocked only by stationmasters. This pocket also held a time card on which the station master recorded the time the rider arrived.
42. SIPMBI_191002_167.JPG: Which of these 3 vintage images shows an actual mochila?
43. SIPMBI_191002_170.JPG: The Riders: The name of the first rider galloping out of St. Joseph, Missouri, on April 3, 1860, has been lost to history. Fewer than 100 men rode for the Pony Express in its 18 months of existence. Later, many men claimed to have been Pony Express riders, with tall tales of reckless adventure growing taller with each telling. Among those mentioned as famous riders was Buffalo Bill (William Cody), whose Wild West shows toured the US and Europe for 30 years. Cody was such an accomplished showman and genius at self-promotion that even today it is difficult to separate the reality of his life from the romance he created in his shows. His claims of a life as a Pony Express rider made for great theater, but little accuracy.
44. SIPMBI_191002_173.JPG: Wells Fargo and the Pony Express: The Pony Express was a rousing success in speeding mail across the country, cutting delivery time in half, but it was unbearably expensive to operate. Unable to win a government mail contract, Russell, Majors, and Waddell lost $30 on every letter carried and were forced to sell the Pony Express. In 1861, the Wells Fargo freighting company took over the route through its Overland Mail Company and, in what must have seemed a final blow to Russell and his partners, won a government mail contract on the condition they continue the operation of a semi-weekly pony express service.
45. SIPMBI_191002_175.JPG: Fastest with the News: William Russell used the 1860 presidential election as a showcase for what the Pony Express could do. Before the election, he hired extra men and ensured that fresh relay horses were available along the entire route. On November 7, 1860, a rider dashed out of Fort Kearny, Nebraska Territory (the eastern end of the telegraph line) with the election results. Riders sped along the route, over snow-covered trails and into Fort Churchill, Nevada Territory (the western end of the telegraph line). California's newspapers received word of Lincoln's election only seven days and 17 hours after the East Coast papers, an unrivaled feat at the time.
46. SIPMBI_191002_177.JPG: News of what special event traveled via Pony Express?
47. SIPMBI_191002_180.JPG: News of what special event traveled via Pony Express? The election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 1860.
48. SIPMBI_191002_183.JPG: The End of the Pony Express: The Pony Express was created to bridge the gap between the eastern and western ends of the transcontinental telegraph lines. While the line between Missouri and California was under construction, riders carried letters across the entire route. They also carried telegraphed messages across the gap between telegraph lines. When the telegraph line was completed, there was no further need for the Pony Express. The first telegraph message from San Francisco to Washington DC was transmitted October 24, 1861. Two days later, the Pony Express came to an end.
49. SIPMBI_191002_185.JPG: Pony Express Riders
50. SIPMBI_191002_187.JPG: "We had had a consuming desire... to see a pony-rider, but somehow or other all that passed us and all that met us managed to streak by in the night, and so we only heard a whiz and a hail, and the swift phantom of the desert was gone before we could get our heads out of the windows." -- Mark Twain, Roughing It, 1872
51. SIPMBI_191002_189.JPG: Riding the Trail Fewer than 100 men rode for the Pony Express in its 18 months of existence. But by the end of the 1800s, hundreds claimed that they had been riders, and their tall tales of reckless adventure grew taller with each telling. Exaggerated stories make it hard for historians to locate and celebrate the real riders. The photos in this book show real Pony Express riders.
52. SIPMBI_191002_193.JPG: Johnny Fry (1840-1863) In all the excitement of the first Pony Express rider out of St. Joseph, Missouri, on April 3, 1860, the identity of the first rider is uncertain. The train bringing the mail to St. Joe was late, so the ride began after nightfall, with few people watching. Some accounts name Fry as the first carrier, but others disagree. When the Civil War broke out, Fry joined the Union army. He was killed in Missouri by Confederate guerrillas at the age of 23.
53. SIPMBI_191002_198.JPG: Jack Keetley (1841-1912)
54. SIPMBI_191002_203.JPG: Johnson William Richardson (1834-1862)
55. SIPMBI_191002_208.JPG: Harry Roff (dates unknown)
56. SIPMBI_191002_213.JPG: Richard Cleve (1841-1916)
57. SIPMBI_191002_218.JPG: John Fisher (1842-1905) and William Fisher (1839-1919)
58. SIPMBI_191002_221.JPG: Romance Versus Reality: Romance: From the dime novels of the late 19th century to movies and television today, the Pony Express has supplied drama, excitement, and a good deal of make-believe. Reality: The riders' constant struggles along the route did not need to be exaggerated. They rode through ghastly weather and over rough territory in a constant race against time.
59. SIPMBI_191002_257.JPG: "A black speck appears against the sky, and it is plain that it moves... Another instant... and man and horse burst past our excited faces and go winging away like the belated fragment of a storm." -- Mark Twain, Roughing It, 1872
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Description of Subject Matter: Binding the Nation
July 30, 1993 – Permanent
Level 1: Mail in America Galleries
This gallery provides an overview of mail service in America from colonial times through the 19th century, stressing the importance of written communication in the young nation. As early as 1673, regular mail was carried between New York and Boston following Indian trails. That route, once known as the King's Best Highway, is now U.S. Route 1.
Benjamin Franklin, a colonial postmaster for the British government, played a key role in establishing mail service in the colonies, as well as in forging a strong link between colonial publishers and the postal service. Many newspapers that relied heavily on information carried in the mail customarily adopted the word "Post" into their title. Newspapers were so important to the dissemination of information to the people that they were granted cheaper postage rates.
By 1800, mail was carried over more than 9,000 miles of postal roads. The challenge of developing mail service over long distances is the central theme of "The Expanding Nation," which features the famed Pony Express and the Southern Postal Administration of the Civil War. At one interactive video station, visitors can create their own postal route. Another interactive video challenges visitors to move mail bags from Philadelphia to New Orleans in the 1850s without losing any bags in wrecks and bad weather.
Visitors are also invited to walk through a replica of the first post road, peek inside a Colonial mailbag, and climb into a mud wagon replica.

Included within the Binding the Nation gallery is this one:

Pony Express: Romance vs. Reality
April 3, 2010 – Permanent
The legendary name of the Pony Express calls up thrilling images of horse and rider racing across treacherous terrain. Yet the actual Pony Express lasted for less than two years (April 1860 to October 1861). It owes its enduring fame to the romanticizing of the American West that began in the late 19th century. Pony Express riders have raced through Wild West shows and dime novels, comic books and movies. Pony Express: Romance vs. Reality examines fictional and actual stories from the history of the world's best known mail carriers.
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