Giddyup!

"Wanted—young, skinny, wiry fellows, not over 18. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. Wages $25 a week"

Does this sound like the perfect job for you? Twenty-five dollars a week is not tempting to many these days. However, this California advertisement for fearless Pony Express riders captures the spirit of the historic mail service, which began on this day in 1860.

The Pony Express was intended to deliver mail between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, in the shortest time possible—usually ten days in summer, but often longer in winter.

The rigors of the nearly 2,000-mile trek were harsh, so demands on the relaying horses and riders were immense. Tough, swift horses were changed every ten to fifteen miles. New riders, weighing no more than 120 pounds, took over every seventy-five to 100 miles. The Pony Express ran day and night, year round.

By October, 1861, the telegraph and the transcontinental railroad made the Pony Express obsolete. Nevertheless, the short-lived mail service is associated with heroic endurance, adventure, and the nation's determined ambition to settle the Far West.

Pictured: Gustaf O. Dalstrom, born Sweden 1893, Pony Express (mural study, St. Joseph, Missouri Post Office and Courthouse), 1941, tempera, pencil and crayon on paperboard, 6 1/2 x 13 1/4 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration.