28 AMOS WILLIAM HARTMAN verted his partners to the idea. 30 The route followed was the mail route already established—the great emigrant trail from St. Jo to Salt Lake City and the new mail route opened in 1859 from Salt Lake City to Carson River, thence by the old road across the Sierras. New stations had to be built, especially west of Salt Lake City. About 190 stations, 200 station-keepers and as many assistants, between 400 and 500 horses, and some eight riders were required. 31 By April 1, 1860, all was ready, and on April 3 the service began. The scheduled time was at first ten days from St. Jo to Sacramento—1950 miles; later this was reduced to eight days. The maximum weight of any mail was twenty pounds, but this was seldom reached. The price was $5.00 for each letter not exceeding one-half once; this was later reduced to $2.50. Service was weekly for a time but on June 1, 1860, semi-weekly service was instituted. 32 The pony express was not backed by the government. Russel, Majors and Waddell had the mail contract. They charged the price of $5.00, then $2.50, in advance of the regular postage, for special service. The express was used for the most part by merchants, though the British government also communicated with its Pacific Fleet by means of it. Financially the project was a failure. In a period of sixteen months, the deficit was in the neighbor- hood of $200,000. 33 Early in May, 1860, an Indian war broke out in the region of the Humboldt and Carson Rivers. Fortifications were erected at Virginia City, Silver City and Genoa. On May 12 a small band of volunteers was defeated by the Indians near the Truckee River and about forty-three 3 <>W. F. Bailey, "The Pony Express, series, Vol. XXXLV, p. 883 . 31 Ibid. , pp. 884-889; Majors, Seventy Years 184-185. 32 Bailey, op. cit., pp. 885-891.
- Hbid., p p . 890-891.
The Century Magazine, new the Frontier, pp.
