Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
Pony Express
References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images & Videos
United States postage stamp showing a Pony Express rider on horseback, with a dashed route from Sacramento to St. Joseph and text reading 1860-1960 Pony Express and 4 cents. Black and white illustration of a Pony Express rider on horseback waving to workers raising telegraph poles near Chimney Rock and the North Platte River, with mountains in the background. Map of the United States highlighting the historic Pony Express route in red, running from St. Joseph, Missouri, across the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains, to Sacramento, California. Key relay stations and forts are marked along the route, with modern state boundaries shown for reference.
A sealed envelope with a red wax stamp is overlaid with lit birthday candles shaped as the numbers 2, 5, and 0, in front of a faded background showing a mailbox and a postal worker in a mail truck.
Pony Express station at Fort Bridger in Wyoming Pony Express stable in St. Joseph, Missouri Centennial map of the Pony Express route The final Pony Express station in Kansas The Pony Express statue in St. Joseph, Missouri Stone replica of the Simpson Springs Pony Express Station and a stone monument stand in a dry, open landscape with mountains in the background in Tooele County, Utah.
At a Glance
default image
Pony Express summary

Pony Express: References & Edit History

Additional Reading

Raymond W. Settle and Mary Lund Settle, Saddles and Spurs: The Pony Express Saga (1972); and Roy S. Bloss, Pony Express: The Great Gamble (1959), are classic studies. Useful examinations include Joseph J. Di Certo, The Saga of the Pony Express (2002); William E. Hill, The Pony Express Trail: Yesterday and Today (2010); Christopher Corbett, Orphans Preferred: The Twisted Truth and Lasting Legend of the Pony Express (2003); Anita Louise McCormick, The Pony Express in American History (2001); Bill Moeller and Jan Moeller, The Pony Express: A Photographic History (2002); Richard C. Frajola, George J. Kramer, and Steven C. Walske, The Pony Express: A Postal History (2005); and Anthony Godfrey, Historic Resource Study: Pony Express National Historic Trail (1994).

Jeff Wallenfeldt

Article Contributors

Primary Contributors

Other Contributors

  • Robert McClenaghan

Other Encyclopedia Britannica Contributors

Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Media added. Feb 11, 2026
Updated terms used for Indigenous Americans. Apr 02, 2025
Media revised. Apr 02, 2024
Removed the reference to an advertisement seeking orphans as riders, which, though often referenced in literature on the Pony Express, was likely a 20th-century creation derived from folklore. Apr 11, 2016
In first paragraph, changed "San Franciso" to "San Francisco." Aug 22, 2013
New bibliography added. Apr 10, 2013
Standing article replaced by a new entry written by Joseph J. Di Certo. Apr 10, 2013
Added images of a postage stamp commemorating the Pony Express and of a replica Pony Express station as well as a painting depicting a Pony Express rider. Jun 30, 2010
Article revised and updated. Mar 23, 2010
Media added. Mar 07, 2008
Article revised. Feb 18, 2005
View Changes:
Article History
Revised:
By: