The Pony Express, more often called simply
the Pony at the time, was the common designation for the Central Overland
Pony Express Company, which lasted only from April 3, 1860, to October 24,
1861, but is still operating in Western novels and films. It had 190
stations along the route between Missouri and California, riders including
"Buffalo Bill" Cody, changing swift Indian ponies at each station and
riding on with the mail - often through bad weather and Indian ambushes.
The record for its 2000-mile run was seven days, seventeen hours, but it
couldn"t beat the telegraph that connected East and West in 1861, and went
out of business that year.