The Pony Express, A Postal History by Richard C. Frajola, George J. Kramer and Steven C. Walske; ISBN 0-911989-03-X; hard cover; vi + 165 pages; published 2005 by The Philatelic Foundation, 70 West 40th Street, New York, NY 10018.

The Pony Express is undoubtedly America’s most evocative mail route. It operated for only 18 months – from April 1860 to October 1861 – yet it captured the imagination of the public at the time, and this has remained undiminished ever since. As the authors note, the Pony Express was an “unusual combination of a private mail system and a government-subsidised mail system that is unique in American history”.

The service was the idea of William Russell who devised a scheme to carry mail quickly on the (direct) Central Route from Missouri to California, using relay teams of horse riders. The 10-day journey connected St Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, by crossing the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains. The idea was to induce the Post Office to award a lucrative contract to Russell to operate a daily stagecoach service.

The Pony Express was “a huge success” demonstrating the viability of carrying mail on the Central Route, but as a business venture it was “a miserable failure”. (Russell and his partners lost a lot of money operating the service.)

The Frajola, Kramer & Walske book provides a definitive account of the Pony Express, focusing particularly on information gleaned from a survey of 251 Pony Express covers that are recorded and illustrated in the book, and that reveal patterns of usage. Oddly enough, although the Pony Express has been written about in numerous articles in philatelic publications, there has been only one handbook produced on the subject. This is The Pony Express by M.C. Nathan and W.S. Boggs, published in 1962.

The Nathan & Bogg book listed 158 Pony Express covers, so the amount of additional information now available in the latest work becomes obvious. Frajola, Kramer & Walske have established the lag times between the announcements and the implementation of new rates, delineating rates periods that reflect the actual implementation dates. The usage of various postal markings by the Pony Express is revealed by the cover census, as is a listing of actual Pony Express trips.

The book corrects factual errors. Contrary to virtually every previously-published account of the Pony Express, at least one instance occurred when the mail was intercepted by Indians and two Pony Express covers bear witness to this event. The book also integrates the story of the Overland Telegraph with the Pony Express. It was the completion of the Overland Telegraph in October 1861 that ended the contractual obligation to operate the Pony Express.

The book is a wonderfully produced work, with well-designed text and tables, and almost every page carrying full-colour illustrations. It is a fine example of how books on important philatelic subjects should look.

Published by kind permission of the author
First published in Philately from Australia (March 2006)