Here is how the Pony Express ended, also the end of Russell’s Career. The Pony Express was officially discontinued on October 26, 1861 two days after the creation of the transcontinental telegraph. During the eighteen months of operation, it made 308 rides each way, covering a distance of 616,000 miles, and carrying approximately 35,000 pieces of mail, with of the mail (67 percent) going east from San Francisco and Sacramento. In the end, the Central Overland California & Pike’s Peak Express Company did not enjoy a favorable status.

        With $400,000 of debt, its equipment in poor shape, and most of its stations displaced by the completion of the transcontinental telegraph, employees of the C.O.C & P.P. Express Co. put down the company, calling it the “Clean Out of Cash and Poor Pay” Express Company. Because Russell, Majors, and Waddell had borrowed a lot from Ben Holladay, a organizer and financier, during the months of May-July, 1861, to keep the C.O.C & P.P. Express Co. a float, Holladay secured a mortgage of his things on the entire line and its equipment as security for his investment. He borrowed money because he needed to keep the Pony Express running. Also the security was for his investment because the founders wanted the Pony Express to be more famous. On March 21, 1862, his offer of $100,000 was the highest bid among those submitted. This was how Russell’s Career ended.

This is a picture of William Sturgeon, the creator of the telegraph.