Patee House, a hotel in 1960, when it served as headquarters for the Pony Express. Photo: courtesy Patee House Museum |
Pony Express
With the expansion of the far western United
States in 1860, a viable and efficient means of communication
became vital to the success of the United States and its
western pioneers. In 1854, for example, it took six months for
a message from the President of the United States to go from
Washington, D.C. to California. As he initiated the Pony
Express in April 1860, Missouri's Major Jeff Thompson
proclaimed: "For the first time in the history of America,
mail will go by an overland route from east to West .... three
cheers for the first overland passage of the United States
Mail!"
Seventy five young men were hired -- "Orphans
preferred" -- and one hundred horses purchased in order to carry
mail from Pony Express headquarters in the Patee House hotel, St.
Joseph, Missouri, to California. Men who weighed no more than 110
pounds were selected for employment and their mounts were chosen
for speed and endurance. Relay stations were established along the
trail to give the rider some relief and to have a horse ready for
exchange when a rider would appear on the horizon. The cost of
having the Pony Express carry one letter from Missouri to
California was five dollars, and the time involved was ten
days.
Soon the nation saw the development of a railroad
system, and although it would not immediately serve as a
coast-to-coast connector, it would enable letters and other
business mail to traverse the country in a far more efficient
manner. The Patee House is now a museum dedicated to the history of
the Pony Express; the building is now a National Historic
Landmark.
Originally submitted by: Pat Danner, Representative (6th District).
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