Pony Express and the Butterfield Overland Mail Company - What's the Difference?

What is the difference in the Pony Express and the Butterfield Overland Mail Company? 

Well, the similarities are that they both brought mail out West from the East Coast of the United States.  There the similarity ends.

The Butterfield Overland Mail Company had the U.S. mail contract for six years from 1857 - 1861.  In all, it employed 800 people at its peak with over 1800 horses and mules in service.  There were 139 relay stations.  The last run was made on March 21, 1861 right before the Civil War started. 

The Butterfield Overland Mail Company went from Tipton, Missouri to San Francisco, California and did go through Arizona, unlike the Pony Express.  It crossed into Arizona to Yuma, crossed the Colorado River, and then up the coast of California to San Francisco.  The big problem with the Overland Mail Company was that it used stage coaches to deliver the mail and took 24 days, and was constantly harassed by bandits and Apache Indians.  One rider described the journey as"now knowing what Hell was like."  With the looming certainty of the Civil War, the Butterfield Overland Mail Company was discontinued and the Pony Express began, a more expedient way to deliver the mail.

There are surviving stations at Oak Grove and Warner Springs, California.  Warner Springs in San Diego County has been declared a National Historic Landmark with two original adobe buildings.  There is a proposed Butterfield Overland Trail National Historic Trail now in the works. 


The Pony Express operated in 1860 until 1861 and became the Western United States's fastest means of communication with the rest of the country until the telegraph became established in 1861.  The Pony Express took about 10 days to deliver the mail.  The riders had to be tough - the advertisement for Pony Express riders was the following -

Wanted: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen.  Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily.  Orphans preferred.

Each rider was presented with a Bible and took an oath not to cuss, drink, gamble, or be mean to animals. 

The Pony Express route went over the top of Arizona and went through Nevada due West.  The most famous Pony Express rider was probably Buffalo Bill Cody who memorialized it in his autobiography and Wild West Shows.