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While
the Pony
Express dramatically improved the communication between the east
and west, it was a financial disaster for its owners. Hoping to gain
the million dollar government mail contract, the Central Overland
California
and Pikes Peak Express Company spent about $700,000 on the project,
losing about $200,000 of their investment.
After the Pacific Telegraph Company
completed its line to San Francisco
in
October, 1861, the company declared bankruptcy and closed down.
Pony Express
Monument in
St. Joseph,
Missouri,
April 3, 2005, Kathy Weiser.
Ben
Holladay, the owner of the Overland Mail Company who had been
awarded the million dollar government contract, acquired the
Pony Express
through foreclosure on March 21, 1862. Four years later he sold
out to Wells Fargo for $2,000,000.
The
Pony Express
marked the highest development in overland travel prior to the coming of
the transcontinental railroad, which it preceded by nine years. It, in
fact, proved the feasibility of a transcontinental road and demonstrated
that such a line could be built and operated continuously the year around
- a feat that had previously been regarded as impossible.
Both the
Pony Express
Headquarters and the
Pony Express
Stables still stand in
St. Joseph,
Missouri
today, serving as two different museums.
The
Pony Express
National Museum in
St. Joseph,
Missouri
displays educational, state of the art exhibits conveying the need,
creation, operation and termination of the Pony Express. Whatever
your age, you’re sure to be captivated by the stories and images on an era
long passed.
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