One entrepreneur, Alexander H. Todd started a one man express service where he charged a fee in gold dust to take mail to and from the coastal post offices to miners in the field. Express companies soon sprang up all over, one of the most famous being Wells, Fargo & Company. The Butterfield Overland Mail Company was hired to carry mail along the Central Route surveyed by the war department. Their first trip left San Francisco and St. Louis simultaneously on September 15, 1858.
Enter the Russell, Majors, & Waddell company. They had acquired the J.M. Hockaday & Company to transport mail. They used that company's established route from the Missouri River to Salt Lake City, via Ft. Kearney, Julesburg, and Ft. Laramie. Russell, the majority shareholder in the enterprise, was consumed with wining the entire overland mail route and beating the Butterfield Company out. He needed something really spectacular to capture world-wide attention. This was when he came up with the idea of fast horsemen running the route from Kansas to Sacramento on the Central Route. They could carry only letters, telegrams, and newspapers. They would ride day and night.
The route only went as far as Salt Lake City at first. On May 11, 1860, the firm won the contract from George Chorpenning for the rest of the route to Sacramento. The headquarters for the company was at St. Joseph, Missouri. The route was 1,966 miles from St. Joseph to Sacramento, one of the longest overland routes in the world. It went mostly through prairie, desert, dry and barren country. The route was divided into five divisions with a superintendent of each. Benjamin F. Ficklin was superintendent of the entire route. There were about 120 relay stations along the entire route.
Every 75 to 100 miles was a home station for resting before starting back. Each rider rode for two of these. He changed horses six to eight times going both directions. They had to keep strictly to the schedule and ride in all weather. They had to be young men, with great stamina and knowledge of horses. The riders were paid about $50 per month plus room and board. There were 80 riders at first. Only a few rode for the entire life of the express. They used over 500 horses at a time. A special heavy leather satchel (mochila) was made for the mail. Mail was locked in a pouch on the mochila heading east from Sacramento. This satchel was a time saver when it came to changing horses.
