Pony Express facts for kids

The Pony Express was a mail delivering service started on April 3, 1860. It ended on October 26, 1861. It would normally deliver mail in about 10 days.

Shutdown

On October 24, 1861, the telegraph was completed. It sent messages faster than the Pony Express. The Pony Express shut down not long after the telegraph was completed. It only lasted two days after the telegraph was first made.

Images for kids

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  Pony Express advertisement

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  Pony Express postmark, 1860, westbound

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  Alexander Majors
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  Pony Express Stables in St. Joseph, Missouri

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  The B.F. Hastings building in Sacramento, California, western terminus of the Pony Express

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  Illustrated Map of Pony Express Route in 1860 by William Henry Jackson ~ Courtesy the Library of Congress ~ The Pony Express mail route, April 3, 1860 – October 24, 1861; reproduction of Jackson illustration issued to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Pony Express founding on April 3, 1960. Reproduction of Jackson's map issued by the Union Pacific Railroad Company.
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  Pony Express Marker along the South Platte River in western Nebraska on US 30 (Lincoln Hwy)

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  This 25-cent stamp printed by Wells Fargo was canceled in Virginia City, Nevada, and used on a revived Pony Express run between there and Sacramento beginning in 1862.

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  Pony Express Stamp, 1860

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  Postmarks on Pony Express mail
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  Stolen Pony Express mail. Notation on the cover reads "recovered from a mail stolen by the Indians in 1860" and bears a New York back stamp of May 3, 1862, the date when it was finally delivered in New York. The cover is also franked with the U.S. Postage issue of 1857, Washington, 10c black.

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  Pony Express riders: "Billy" Richardson, Johnny Fry, Charles Cliff, Gus Cliff

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  William "Buffalo Bill" Cody

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  Robert "Pony Bob" Haslam in later years

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  Jack Keetley

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  Photo of Major Howard Egan c. 1860s.

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  Frank E. Webner, Pony Express rider c. 1861

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  The Mochila: detail from Pony Express stations map by William Henry Jackson

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  Mail from St. Joseph with a St. Joseph Pony Express postmark along with a city of destination postmark, San Francisco: The envelope also has an issue of 1855, Washington 10-cent postage affixed to it.

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  Pony Express statue in St. Joseph, Missouri

See also

In Spanish: Pony Express para niños