In 1850 William Hepburn Russell and James Brown formed a company to deliver 600,000 pounds of government supplies to Santa Fe. Soon afterwards, Russell began delivering supplies to Fort Hall. The freighting business was a great success and in 1854 he joined forces with two other businessmen, Alexander Majors and W. B. Waddell, to start the company of Russell, Majors and Waddell.
In 1860 Russell, Majors and Waddell established the Pony Express to deliver the mail. This involved setting up a string of over 100 relay stations from St. Joseph in Missouri to Sacramento in California, a distance of 1,966 miles. A notice appeared in a San Francisco newspaper: “Wanted. Young skinny wiry fellows, not over eighteen. Must be expert riders willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. Wages $25 per week.” One of those who applied for a job as a pony express rider was William F. Cody.
The horses going flat out, it was necessary to provide fresh ones every 15 miles, although the riders were changed less often. One of the youngest was a boy called Bronco Charlie Miller, who was only 12 years old, and when a horse came in riderless, his father hoisted him on a fresh animal and sent him off with the mail.
People were charged $5 per half ounce to send their letters. Each rider rode a certain distance before handing the letters over to the next relay rider. The first batch of letters left St. Joseph on 3rd April, 1860 and arrived in Sacramento ten days later.
In winter, teams of mules were driven back and forth over the trail to pack the deep snow, so $5 for delivery of a letter would buy the services of at least 140 horses, probably 25 to 30 riders, upwards of 175 station owners and several dozen mules. It only took eight days to traverse the distance of nearly 2,000 miles, through storms, hostile territory and punishing terrain. A bit like the post office today!
The Pony Express was initially a popular service. However, on 24th October 1861 a transcontinental telegraph was completed. Russell, Majors and Waddell could not compete with the electric telegraph and the Pony Express was closed down on 26th October.
The Pony Express was superseded by the telegraph, which was overtaken by the telephone and the telephone by the e-mail, and now we are in today’s speedy communications era. What would we do without e-mail, mobile phones and laptop wireless connectivity? It’s unthinkable, but God can send answers even quicker than men can invent the means of transference.
24 years ago I was struggling to change a thermostat on my ailing car, parked in my driveway. I shouted into the bungalow through the open front door, “I think Patricia you had better pray for a new car, I’m going next door to borrow an adjustable spanner.” The old man opposite led me into his garage to find the spanner, and as he bent to open the drawer he asked, “’would you like this car?” pointing to his sparkling 2.3 FE range Vauxhall, nine years old but with only 22,000 miles on the clock. Whenever it rained he cleaned and garaged it. It was a wonderful example of loving care and maintenance. It lasted me for many years.
By the time I had walked a few yards to his bungalow and entered the garage the answer was there, – God had responded, certainly faster than Pony Express, telegraph, telephone and e-mail. In fact, he does say “before you call I will answer,” and that’s mega technology. Can mankind beat that? A sinner falling to their knees cries out “Save me” and as our Australian friends would say, “There we are – done and dusted.” God acts swiftly to that kind of cry, faster than blinking. When He returns, it will be swifter than in a twinkling of an eye [1 Cor 15:52]. Men cannot move faster than their communications, but God can!
