The Pony Express had been tried at the tribunal of popular opinion and
given a hearty endorsement. It had yet to win the approval of shrewd
statesmanship.



[2] Root and Connelley's Overland Stage to California.

[3] So called because it was about half way between the Missouri River
and Denver.

[4] Reports as to the precise hour of starting do not all agree. It was
probably late in the afternoon or early in the evening, no later than
6:30.

[5] Authorities differ somewhat as to the personnel of the first trip;
also as to the number of letters carried.

[6] On account of the Mormon outbreak and the troubles of 1857-58, there
was at this time much ill-feeling in Congress against Utah. Matters were
finally smoothed out and the bill in question was of course dropped.
Utah was loyal to the Union throughout the Civil War.

[7] Eastbound the first rider carried about seventy letters.

[8] The idea of a Pony Express was not a new one in 1859. Marco Polo
relates that Genghis Khan, ruler of Chinese Tartary had such a courier
service about one thousand years ago. This ambitious monarch, it is
said, had relay stations twenty-five miles apart, and his riders
sometimes covered three hundred miles in twenty-four hours.