| Frontier
Trails & Pony Express Independence , MO |
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Early mountain men connected some of the hundreds of Native American foot paths into what eventually became the 2,000-mile long Oregon Trail. From the 1820s until the 1890s, this trail was used by tens of thousands of settlers, an estimated 34,000 of whom were buried along the way. The Santa Fe Trail was a 1,000-mile freeway for commerce opened in 1822 by William Becknell and five other men. Though it had its dangers (Spanish and Indian raiders and long, arid stretches without water), courageous entrepreneurs could make small fortunes bringing valuable goods to the remote settlement of Santa Fe. As the gold rush in California brought thousands of settlers to the west, the need for a fast mail delivery system arose. Instead of waiting months for letters to arrive by boat, the Pony Express could cover the distance from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California in only 10 days, if conditions were favorable. But this enterprise, begun in 1860, lasted only 18 months, due to continual hardships of weather, Indian raids, and the completion of the transcontinental railroad. At the National Frontier Trails Center in Independence and the Pony Express Museum and Patee House Museum in St. Joseph, we learned about the brave people who traveled these trails and the changes they brought to the growing United States. |
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"We had to put sacks and boxes and all kinds of things we needed for the 'trail'. There was rice, beans, flour, parched corn, salt pork, molasses, butter churn, shovel, rifle, clothes, etc. The wagon had a weight sensor, and it would make an 'err' sound when it got overweight." -- Harrison |
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Amanda learned about a girl named Virginia Reed who was 13 and was on the Oregon Trail with her family. "I collected parts of quotes from her journal and here's one: 'The stock, sensing the water had rushed on ahead of the men and had probably been stolen by the Indians and driven into the mountains all traces of them were lost.' I'm glad to be traveling in a motorhome instead of a covered wagon!" |
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Travelers used big landmarks to measure their progress, such as Independence Rock along the Oregon Trail. It became known as the "register" of the trail because so many travelers carved their names on it. At the National Frontier Trails Center, the kids got to add their graffiti to a book of visitors. |
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"The Pony Express Trail was 2000 miles long. There were about 160 stations, where a rider could change horses; but they had only two minutes to change horses. A rider had to ride 75 to 100 miles a day, which was the distance between two home stations." -- Bobby Conselatore |
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Russel, Majors and Waddel chose St. Joseph as the the starting point because it was the furthes west place on the frontier that had both rail and telegraph service. The first Pony Express rider left the stables on April 3, 1860 and rode west. On the same day, a rider left Sacramento, CA riding east. In all there were about 120 riders that together rode 500 horses over 650,000 miles. The time to send a letter across the continent was cut in half. |
Russel, Majors
& Waddel
PONY EXPRESS St. Joeseph, Missouri to California in ten days or less >>WANTED<< YOUNG, SKINNY WIRY FELLOWS not over eighteen. Must be expert riders, willing to risk life daily. Orphans prefered. Wages $25 per week. |
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"The first man to send something on the Pony Express sent a news-paper made with light tissue paper; it was sent to California from Missouri in eight days."--Amanda The Pony Express was never a part of the US Postal Service, though eventually it did win a contract with the US to carry mail after the Civil War began. While it is true that only one rider was killed by Indian raids, and only one mochila was lost, many other people died in raids on the relay stations. |
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As
the definition of "the West" changed from west of the Appalachains,
to west of the Mississippi, to west of the Rockies, explorers and settlers
created and used many trails through the new territory. These highways
were paths to dreams of space and wealth, but often turned into roads
of misery, loss and unimaginable hardship. 
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