The Pony Express:

Communication Across the Country

Riders & Routes

    The pony express consisted of young men who rode on horses to deliver letters and small packages. Young teenagers, especially orphans, were hired for a job where they rode for sixty miles in a hour six hour period and switched horses. These men were chosen based on their light weight, shooting ability, horsemanship, and bravery. (Mattes) Routes were often quite dangerous because riders were sometimes attacked by Indians and robbers. The men often had to carry the money that was collected as they delivered.

    Some riders were often bored as they rode, so they gotten very curious about what the packages contained or what the letters said.

( Emerson.edu) There were several different stations that the riders stopped at to switch off horses such as Fort Laramie. Most of the deliveries were quite successful. Only one delivery was said to be lost and that one rider was said to die on the job.