(Aside: Incumbent carriers have been overtaken by technology before!)
The Pony Express
- Founded April 3, 1860
- 10-13 days to cover the 1966 miles from Missouri to California (cf. 90 days by clipper, 23 days by coach)
- Record time: 7 days 17 hours, with Abraham Lincoln’s Inaugural Address, March 1861
- Longest ride: 14 year old “Buffalo Bill” Cody, 384 miles
- Put out of business by Western Union’s telegraph, October 26, 1861
Randy Katz, UC Berkeley, 7/97