On October 26, 1861, just two days after the completion of the telegraph line by Western Union, which made instant communication between the two coasts of the United States possible, closed the Pony Express.
It was a legendary service that had a very short life, just 18 months during which it suffered the consequences of a war with an Indian tribe, experienced the first deeds of a boy who would later become Buffalo Bill and delivered thousands of letters from New York to San Francisco in just 10 days. The service was invented by 3 entrepreneurs who were struck by the sudden relevance of California after the discovery of some gold mines. It was necessary to prepare a faster and safer communication system than the stagecoaches, and the 3 devised a system of relays and stations. The relay races were among horses, the stations were the post offices where you could refuel.
The riders were all very young and according to a legend, preferably orphans, because they had to be willing to risk their lives every day to get the bag with the letters to their destination. The first trips took place from April 3, 1860, and at the beginning of 1861 the service was counting on 80 riders, 184 stations, 400 horses and many assistants. From March 1861, with the outbreak of the Civil War, the route served was greatly reduced, from Salt Lake City to Sacramento. But it was the advent of the telegraph to decree the end of that experiment which is estimated to have lost over 100 thousand dollars at the time.
Probably the fame of the service contributed greatly to the fact that, years later, Buffalo Bill said he worked for the Pony Express from a very young age, recounting his adventures in the famous Wild West Show, the show of the Wild West that toured the United States and Europe. In the 80s in Italy a company for deliveries in the city by scooter called Pony Express was born which, with various evolutions, is still active.
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