In 1860, the pony express charged $5 to take a letter 2,000 miles in about 9 days.
The first trip from St. Joseph to San Francisco, 1,966 in exact miles, was made in ten days; the second, in fourteen; the third, and many succeeding trips, in nine.
The riders had a division of from one hundred to 140 miles, with relays of horses at distances varying from twenty to twenty-five miles.
Pony Express riders received from $120 to $125 a month and were chosen for their lightness of weight and energy.
Their horses were generally half-breed California mustangs, quick and full of endurance and as surefooted and fleet as a mountain goat.
In all the trips across the continent, and the 650,000 miles ridden by the Pony Express riders, only one mail was lost.
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