Show fl ST STORIES m srN I t S1 STAMPS j By I. I S. S Klein J. J w r i i I MAIL f PONY P E EXPRESS C s 's r u I ST ST. CT Tr JOSEPH Mo was the west west- tern terminus of the railroad in jn 1860 and communication farther farther far far- ther west was slow and laborious laborious' By ship from New York to Panama Panama Pana Pana- i ima ma then across the isthmus and by ship again to San Francisco it took 22 days to carry the mails By rail to St. St Jo by stagecoach to Sacramento and thence by steamer to San Francisco the mail w was s not much faster On April 3 3 1860 therefore a r courier on a fleet pony left St. St Jo Jo I 1 Ic c carrying a sack of less than 20 pounds of mail the first of a unique relay system to the west I coast Changing horses about i every 10 to 20 miles transferring the sack to another courier at atlonger longer intervals this unique pony express service speeded the mails over a distance of about 1700 miles in 10 or 11 days For more than 16 months this service continued The original company was replaced by the fa famous famous fa- fa Fargo Wells Express Company Company Company Com Com- pany in 1861 and a special stamp was issued privately But the first transcontinental telegraph came in in October 1861 and the thep p pony o 0 n y express had to be dis dis- continued U. U 1869 S. In In 1869 the Pony Express United S t tat a t es j brown Issue issued a stamp i showing t the h e p pony 0 n y express courier on his his' horse |