Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company facts for kids
The Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company was a stagecoach company in the American West during the early 1860s. It is best known as the parent company of the famous Pony Express. This company was started by Russell, Majors, and Waddell, a large freighting business. Their stagecoach line made its first journey from Westport, Missouri, to Denver on March 9, 1859.
Their stage lines ran from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Denver and Salt Lake City. In May 1860, they took over the mail service contract from George Chorpenning for mail going from Utah to California. To try and get a bigger contract from the United States government, they launched a special mail service. This service, known as the Pony Express, started on April 3, 1860, running between St. Joseph and San Francisco.
Keeping the stagecoach service running often and losing a lot of money from the Pony Express caused problems for the company. When the Transcontinental Telegraph was finished, the Pony Express was no longer needed. The company ran out of money and was sold to Ben Holladay for $100,000.
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Russell, Majors and Waddell: A Big Freighting Company
As the United States grew westward in the early 1800s, the military built forts and supply depots. These were needed to protect and support the country's expansion. At first, the government hired small companies to supply each fort. But as more forts were built, this system became slow and not very efficient. In 1854, Quartermaster General Thomas Jesup decided to change things. He created one big two-year contract to supply most forts west of the Missouri River. This contract was worth a lot of money and needed more resources than many small suppliers had.
Alexander Majors was one of the people who supplied military forts before 1854. He moved goods along the Santa Fe Trail and was known for being successful. William Waddell owned a store in Lexington, Missouri. He was known as a careful person who thought a lot before making decisions. In 1852, Waddell teamed up with William Hepburn Russell in a trading business. Russell was a good-looking businessman with social goals. In 1855, Waddell and Russell asked Majors to join them to try for the new military supply contract. Three months after forming their partnership, the company of Russell, Majors, and Waddell won a two-year contract. They would supply all military posts west of the Mississippi River.
The three partners divided the work based on their strengths. William Waddell handled the money and made sure the business ran smoothly. William Russell was the company's salesman. He got contracts from the government and others, and he dealt with bankers for money. Alexander Majors managed the freighting operations. This included hiring workers, overseeing loading and transport, and making sure the wagon trains ran on time. The partners generally got along well. Majors and Waddell were similar in being careful. Russell was the opposite, but he was often on the East Coast looking for new deals. With almost complete control over western freighting, Russell, Majors, and Waddell became the biggest freighting company in western Missouri.
The new contract with the War Department needed a lot of money to start. Warehouses, stables, and wagon shops had to be built and kept up. Wagon masters, freight handlers, and teamsters needed to be hired and paid. Oxen, wagons, and other equipment had to be bought. The way the three partners divided their work helped them succeed. The experience they gained in managing this freighting business helped them later on. Between 1855 and 1856, their first two years with the government contract, business was good. The company made a profit of $300,000. Russell, Majors, and Waddell also bought land and opened new stores. Because they were so good at handling the War Department's freight, they were chosen for the next contract. In February 1857, they signed their second contract.
In May 1857, the company's wagon trains had been traveling for over a month. Then the Utah War started between the Mormons and the United States government. The government sent 2,500 troops to Utah. They also needed Russell, Majors, and Waddell to transport a huge amount of military supplies. The company paid for this new expedition by taking out big loans. During the Utah War, three wagon trains, worth over $125,000 at the time, were lost. The company had already used up all its credit and could not find new lenders. They were almost bankrupt. To make things worse, Congress was unhappy with the war. They did not pass the usual funding bill for the War Department. This delayed payment for the 1857 contract. Even so, the War Department still needed supplies. John B. Floyd, the Secretary of War, personally promised payment for the 1857 contract. This unusual promise allowed Russell, Majors, and Waddell to get more credit and pay for new supply trains.
Leavenworth City & Pike's Peak Express Company: A New Venture
In July 1858, Green Russell and Sam Bates found a small amount of gold. This happened in Little Dry Creek. It was the first important gold discovery in the Rocky Mountain region. This discovery started the Pike's Peak Gold Rush. William H. Russell was in Leavenworth, Kansas, when he heard about the gold. He believed this gold rush would bring many people to the area. So, Russell and John S. Jones, a former freighting partner, found new investors. They borrowed money and started a stagecoach and express line to Denver. The new service was called the Leavenworth City & Pike's Peak Express Company. It carried "passengers, mail, freight, and gold" to and from the Pike's Peak area. The route followed a trail between the Republican and Smoky Hill forks of the Kansas River.
The new company mapped out a 687-mile route. They built 27 stations, bought new coaches and mules, and hired enough men. The first trip was in March 1859 and took 19 days. During this time, they finished building the route. Later trips took as little as six days. A passenger ticket cost $100.00, express packages cost $1.00 a pound, and each letter cost 25¢. The town of Denver gave 53 lots to the company. They celebrated the first arrival with a special newspaper from the Rocky Mountain News. The coach returning to Leavenworth brought $3,500 worth of gold. This was celebrated with speeches and music.
Many people came to the Pike's Peak region. However, few could afford the stagecoach ticket. Most traveled on foot or horseback instead. Russell and Jones wanted to make up for this by getting a contract to deliver mail for the United States government. On May 11, 1859, the Leavenworth City & Pike's Peak Express Company bought Hockaday & Company. This company had the postal contract between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Salt Lake City. Hockaday & Company had only a few light stagecoaches and used only seven stations. Their postal contract ran until November 1860. It had been profitable until the post office reduced the number of trips and payments.
After combining the two companies, Russell and Jones changed their Denver coaches to Hockaday's more northern route. They had used their original route for less than six weeks. The new route of Leavenworth City & Pike's Peak Express went north to Fort Kearney. Then it turned south toward Denver at Julesburg. The Salt Lake City traffic continued on through Fort Laramie and Fort Bridger. The route was split into three parts. The first part ran from St. Joseph, Missouri, to where the lines split at Julesburg. It had 19 stations. The second part was from Julesburg to South Pass. The third part ran from South Pass to Salt Lake City. The company built new stations along the route, 16 to 40 miles apart. These provided rooms and food for passengers and barns for mule teams. Building new stations and leaving the old ones was a financial burden for the company.
By the fall of 1859, the Leavenworth City & Pike's Peak Express Company was in danger of failing due to its debts. Employees were not getting paid. Stations ran low on animal feed. The company owed its lenders over $525,000. William H. Russell did not partner with Alexander Majors or William Waddell in this company. They thought it was too early to know if the gold rush would last. However, this did not stop Russell from using the good name of Russell, Majors, and Waddell to get credit for his new company. This caused tension between the three men, especially since they had just barely avoided financial disaster with their War Department contracts.
Still, Majors and Waddell knew that if the Leavenworth City & Pike's Peak Express Company failed, it could also bring down Russell, Majors, and Waddell. So, on October 28, 1859, the three men formed a new partnership. This new company took over the assets and debts of the Leavenworth City & Pike's Peak Express Company. Less than a month later, Russell named the new company the Central Overland California & Pike's Peak Express Company, or C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co. He probably did this without asking his partners. The new name showed his hope of getting a daily mail route to California through the Rocky Mountains. (The Southern Route went from St. Louis, Missouri, through El Paso, Texas, to San Francisco, California.) Russell went back to New York in December to raise money and deal with lenders. On January 27, 1860, he wrote to his son: "Have decided to start a Pony Express to Sacramento, California, beginning April 3rd. It will take ten days."
Organizing the Pony Express
It's not completely clear who first thought of the Pony Express idea or when. But it was Russell, Majors, and Waddell who made the plan work. Russell wanted the Pony Express to be ready in just over two months after he announced the new company. The firm used their great organizing skills to build stations, create roads, get horses and equipment, and hire staff. They hired stationmasters, mail agents, and riders. All this was done to open the route from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, on time. St. Joseph was the best choice for the eastern end because the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad line ended there. This allowed fast communication with the East.
The route was divided into five sections. Each section had its own manager. While the route followed the same roads as the stage line, many had to be fixed or improved. Many existing stations were used for the Pony Express. But some new stations were built to make the distance between them about 10 miles.
The trail between St. Joseph and Salt Lake City was well known to the company. However, the trail from Salt Lake City to Sacramento was almost completely unknown. At that time, George Chorpenning had a federal mail contract between California and Utah. This contract paid $130,000 per year. His service delivered mail twice a month. Mail arrived in San Francisco by ship and was then sent to Salt Lake City. The C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co. did not want to share resources with a competitor. So, they had to build their own roads and stations. The company started building along the Humboldt River in northern Nevada. But when the United States Topographical Engineers surveyed a new route across central Nevada to Genoa, they switched routes. The new trail shortened the distance between Utah and California by about 150 miles. By December 1859, both George Chorpenning and the C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co. were building stations along this route.
The Central Overland California & Pike's Peak Express Company spent a lot of money building and equipping these new stations. This was despite the company's financial problems at the time. Between 400 and 500 horses were bought. Close to 200 stationmasters and 80 riders were hired to work the route. "Home stations," where a rider would rest before riding back, were placed every 75 to 100 miles. In April 1860, when the Pony Express made its first run, sources say between 119 and 153 stations were active.
The company's main office in San Francisco was at 601 Montgomery Street. This location is now California Historical Landmark No. 696. The company also set up offices in big eastern cities like New York City and Washington D.C.. Mail could be given to a company agent there to be sent to California. On March 17, 1860, an advertisement in the San Francisco Bulletin announced: "PONY EXPRESS — NINE DAYS FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO NEW YORK." Similar announcements followed in New York and St. Louis. It is thought that the total cost to start the business, including building, equipment, and supplies, was over $70,000 at the time. Monthly expenses were estimated to be about $5,000.
The first Pony Express run was planned for April 3, 1860. The mail pouch for the west had "49 letters, 5 private telegrams, and some papers." It missed a train connection. The superintendent of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad had to send a special train to deliver the pouch to St. Joseph. The mail arrived two hours late. After some speeches, it set off for Sacramento. It took 75 ponies to make the first trip from Missouri to California. Each major city along the way celebrated as the Pony Express rider passed through. On April 14, 1860, around 1 a.m., the Pony Express from St. Joseph arrived in San Francisco. The eastbound rider left San Francisco on April 3 and reached St. Josephs on April 13. The Pony Express was now active.
In its first month, Pony Express riders faced bad weather, tough land, and the physical challenge of riding up to 100 miles a day. Despite this, operations ran smoothly. The number of letters sent was not enough to cover the company's costs. However, many communities along the line found the service valuable for the news the riders brought. There was even talk of other express companies starting up. On May 11, 1860, Postmaster General Joseph Holt canceled the existing mail contract with George Chorpenning. He offered it to the C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co. instead. This contract paid about $260,000 per year, which was enough to cover the cost of running the Pony Express.
In early May 1860, the Pyramid Lake War began after an event at the Williams Station along the Pony Express route. For more than three months, fights and attacks happened between white settlers and local Paiute people. Pony Express stations were often easy targets for raids. They were usually in remote places with plenty of supplies and few people. Because of lost staff, stations, and horses, the Pony Express had to stop operations between Carson Valley and Salt Lake City until the end of June. The C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co. rebuilt the destroyed stations. They also placed up to five guards at each station along this part of the route. The Pony Express started service again at the end of June. However, fighting between the Paiute and settlers did not stop until August.
During the almost two-month break, the Pony Express continued to ride between Salt Lake City and St. Joseph. But this route brought in little money. The C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co. had spent over $75,000 to reopen the route to California. Much of this money went to making stations stronger and hiring armed guards. With the company running low on funds, a bill was brought to Congress. It asked for money to help the Pony Express for weekly or twice-weekly trips. But the bill did not pass. As attacks on Pony Express stations continued, Russell, Majors, and Waddell decided that if Congress did not help pay for the route, they would end the business in January 1861. The Post Office Department renewed their St. Joseph to Salt Lake City contract on October 28. Use of the Pony Express continued to increase through the end of the year. With more money coming in, the company decided to keep running the Pony Express, but with fewer trips during the winter.
Decline of the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company
As the owners of the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company, Russell, Majors, and Waddell were involved in everything. They set up and ran both the stagecoach lines and the Pony Express. At the same time, they continued to run their freighting company. This company had a contract to deliver supplies to US Army forts in the region. In late 1860, Russell, Majors, and Waddell still had not been paid for their 1857 contract. But with Secretary of War John B. Floyd's personal promises of payment, they had taken on over $5,000,000 in debt. This debt was in addition to the separate debt from setting up and running the C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co.
In March 1860, Russell, Majors, and Waddell had prepared a group of wagons to take supplies to the Army. Due to unexpected problems, the wagons could not leave until late August. This delay was very costly. The men still needed to be paid, the wagons and supplies had to be stored, and the mules and horses fed. Much of the company's debt was due in mid-summer. They had expected to pay it off with money from the supply run. But the War Department would only pay when the goods were received. The company had to take out more loans to cover the old debt. This further hurt their credit. If the company could get a government contract for mail, worth $600,000 to $900,000 a year, their money problems would be solved.
With the success of the Pony Express and the ocean mail service ending in June 1860, a contract looked promising. However, Congress ended its session without passing a bill for a central overland mail route. William Russell, after a failed trip to New York to raise more money, met with Godard Bailey. Bailey was a relative of Secretary Floyd. Bailey might have worried that Floyd, who had promised payment for some of Russell, Majors, and Waddell's debt, would have to resign if the company went bankrupt. So, Bailey agreed to help Russell raise money. Bailey let Russell borrow security bonds from the Indian Trust Fund. Russell used these bonds as a promise for more loans. Bailey did not own these bonds. Russell offered a note in their place that he knew was worthless. He had done something wrong with money. Russell went back three times to borrow from the Indian Trust Fund. Eventually, Bailey felt bad and told what he had done. Both men were arrested.
The start of the Civil War saved the men from being fully punished. They were freed because of a legal technicality. The bond scandal ruined the reputation of Russell, Majors, and Waddell. Their freighting company soon went bankrupt. Even though Russell, Majors, and Waddell failed, the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company was a separate business and kept operating.
When Texas left the Union in 1861, they destroyed the Butterfield Overland Mail line. This effectively cut off land communication from California to the East. The postmaster general could not simply cancel the contract with the Overland Mail Company. So, Congress moved the route north to keep mail moving through the Union. The C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co. supported this move for several reasons. First, the government would pay money to help the Pony Express. This would allow it to run until the telegraph reached California. Second, the company could not afford to run the line alone in its current state. Neither could Overland Mail. So, the two companies made a deal. The C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co. would run the mail from St. Joseph to Salt Lake City. Overland Mail would run from Salt Lake City to California using the C.O.C. & P.P. Express Co.'s facilities. Given the company's situation at the start of the year, this was a good deal.
With the Civil War started, the Pony Express was the fastest way to send information from East to West. So, it was in high demand. But the telegraph was catching up quickly. It was moving east from California and west from Nebraska. By mid-August, news sent by telegraph to San Francisco arrived two days before the Pony Express riders. Despite this, the amount of express mail continued to grow. However, once the Pony Express stopped getting government help after the transcontinental telegraph was finished, the business ran out of money. Employees even called it "Clean Out of Cash and Poor Pay."
On April 26, 1861, Bela M. Hughes was chosen as the company's president and general lawyer. The Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company continued to deliver mail from St. Joseph to Salt Lake City for the Overland Mail Company. This continued until their contract ended in 1862. At that point, Overland Mail offered the contract for bids. It was won by Ben Holladay. On March 21, 1862, Holladay bought the C.O.C. & P.P. Express Company's properties at a public sale for $100,000. He made it part of his company, the Overland Stage Company. With the company out of business, its facilities in the West Bottoms of Kansas City, Missouri, eventually became the Kansas City Stockyards.
