History: American Old West, United States

William Russell, hoping to get a government contract for more rapid mail delivery service, started the Pony Express in 1860, cutting delivery time to ten days. He set up over 150 stations about 15 miles (24 km) apart. Riders were required to be expert and weigh less than 125 lb (57 kg)., with an advertisement of the time asking for, "young skinny wiry fellows, not over eighteen... willing to risk death daily... Orphans preferred... Wages: $25 per week." If a relief rider was not available at the next station, the rider was required to change horses and keep going.
The service was short-lived, however, as the continental telegraph was completed on October 24, 1861, just eighteen months later. Samuel F. B. Morse developed his telegraph system in the 1830s. It found acceptance by the mid 1840s, and over 50,000 miles (80,000 km) of wire were laid out to form a single national network. The telegraph and the Morse Code made possible the instantaneous transmission of information and the beginning of the tele-communications industry. The new national communication system soon proved a boon to newspapers, to freight hauling, to weather reporting, to law enforcement, and to the railroads.
Though Russell did get a government contract, his business had considerable losses anyway and failed. After the Pony Express service folded, mail continued by overland coach and by sea. However, Wells Fargo (established in 1852) maintained special courier services across the Sierras for carrying gold and mail through the 1860s, and its banking, freighting, and business services flourished in California. It grew through the consolidation of other overland mail companies until the opening of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 caused Wells Fargo to realign its services and delivery routes.