The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders. It operated from April 3, 1860, to October 26, 1861, between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company.
During its 18 months of operation, the Pony Express reduced the time for messages to travel between the east and west US coast to about 10 days. It became the west's most direct means of eastâwest communication before the first transcontinental telegraph was established (October 24, 1861), and was vital for tying the new U.S. state of California with the rest of the United States.
Despite a heavy subsidy, the Pony Express was not a financial success and went bankrupt in 18 months, when a faster telegraph service was established. Nevertheless, it demonstrated that a unified transcontinental system of communications could be established and operated year-round. When replaced by the telegraph, the Pony Express quickly became romanticized and became part of the lore of the American West. Its reliance on the ability and endurance of hardy riders and fast horses was seen as evidence of rugged American individualism of the frontier times.
History of California
References
- Aron, Stephen. 'Convergence, California and the Newest Western History', California History Volume: 86#4 September 2009. pp 4+ historiography.
- Bakken, Gordon Morris. California History: A Topical Approach (2003), college textbook
- Hubert Howe Bancroft. The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, vol 18â24, History of California to 1890; complete text online; famous, highly detailed narrative written in 1880s
- Brands, H.W. The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream (2003) excerpt and text search
- Burns, John F. and Richard J. Orsi, eds; Taming the Elephant: Politics, Government, and Law in Pioneer California (2003) online edition
- Cherny, Robert W., Richard Griswold del Castillo, and Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo. Competing Visions: A History Of California (2005), college textbook
- Cleland, Robert Glass. A History of California: The American Period (1922) 512 pp. online edition
- Deverell, William. Railroad Crossing: Californians and the Railroad, 1850-1910. (1994). 278 pp.
- Deverell, William, and David Igler, eds. A Companion to California History (2008), long essays by scholars excerpt and text search
- Ellison, William. A Self-governing Dominion: California, 1849-1860 (1950) full text online free
- Hayes, Derek. Historical Atlas of California: With Original Maps, (2007), 256 pp.
- Hittell, Theodore Henry. History of California (4 vol 1898) old. detailed narrative; online edition
- Hoover, Mildred B., Rensch, Hero E. and Rensch, Ethel G. Historic Spots in California, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA. (3rd Ed. 1966) 642 pp.
- Hutchinson, Alan. Frontier Settlements in Mexican California: The Hijar Padres Colony and Its Origins, 1769-1835. New Haven: Yale University Press 1969.
- Isenberg, Andrew C. Mining California: An Ecological History. (2005). 242 pp.
- Jackson, Robert H. Missions and the Frontiers of Spanish America: A Comparative Study of the Impact of Environmental, Economic, Political, and Socio-Cultural Variations on the Missions in the Rio de la Plata Region and on the Northern Frontier of New Spain. Scottsdale, Ariz.: Pentacle, 2005. 592 pp.
- Jelinek, Lawrence. Harvest Empire: A History of California Agriculture (1982)
- Lavender, David. California: A History. also California: A Bicentennial History. New York: Norton, 1976. Short and popular
- Lightfoot, Kent G. Indians, Missionaries, and Merchants: The Legacy of Colonial Encounters on the California Frontiers. U. of California Press, 1980. 355 pp. excerpt and online search
- Pitt, Leonard. The Decline of the Californios: A Social History of the Spanish-Speaking Californians, 1846-1890 (2nd ed. 1999)
- Rawls, James and Walton Bean. California: An Interpretive History (8th ed 2003), college textbook; the latest version of Bean's solid 1968 text
- Rice, Richard B., William A. Bullough, and Richard J. Orsi. Elusive Eden: A New History of California 3rd ed (2001), college textbook
- Sackman, Douglas Cazaux. Orange Empire: California and the Fruits of Eden. (2005). 386 pp.
- Starr, Kevin. California: A History (2005), a synthesis in 370 pp. of his 8-volume scholarly history
- Starr, Kevin. Americans and the California Dream, 1850-1915 (1973)
- Starr, Kevin and Richard J. Orsi eds. Rooted in Barbarous Soil: People, Culture, and Community in Gold Rush California (2001)
- Street, Richard Steven. Beasts of the Field: A Narrative History of California Farmworkers, 1769-1913. (2004). 904 pp.