At 7:15 P.M., to the boom of a cannon, Johnny Fry shook hands with William Russell then bound into his saddle. Astride the brave bay mare that sported what was left of her tail, Fry pounded his way down Jules Street to the banks of the Missouri River to the ferry landing where he would be taken across and then be on his way west.
Letters and Newspapers Moving West
In three of the pouches of Fry's mochila he carried 49 letters, a few copies of Eastern newspapers that had been specially printed on tissue paper to keep their weight light, five private telegrams as well as numerous telegraphic dispatches for California newspapers. The fourth pouch was left empty for mail picked up along the way.
The carrying of telegrams had been one of many of William Russell's bright ideas. By 1860, the telegraph wires had only reached, from east to west, Fort Kearny, Nebraska. Coming east from the west, the wires extended only to Carson City, Nevada. There was a 1,600-mile wireless gap between Fort Kearney and Carson City. The Pony Express was ready to fill that gap.
In all, the total weight of mail, newspapers, and dispatches that Fry carried out of St. Joseph weighed less than 15 pounds. The price for transporting these items stood at five dollars for a half ounce. The price was high, indeed, but it far from covered the cost of the service.
Will Congress Grant a Grant?
Russell didn't expect the project to pay off in the beginning but what he was counting on was that Congress would grant the huge mail subsidy for the Central Route, the exact route the Pony Express riders were taking. Whether Congress granted this subsidy to the Pony Express, a stage line, or both, Russell had it covered just as long as it went over the Central Route and not along the southern route that Mr. Butterfield traveled with his coaches.
Later that night, on the West Coast, Billy Hamilton waited in Sacramento to take the mail from James Randall coming from San Francisco, California, and then he would be on his way east.
The Pony Express continues at: Pony Express on the Oregon Trail.
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