d and thirty-five dollars Pony
Express charges.

Nor did the commercial houses of the Pacific Coast cities appear to mind
a little expense in forwarding their business letters. Mr. Root says
there would often be twenty-five one dollar "Pony" stamps and the same
number of Government stamps--a total in postage of twenty-seven dollars
and fifty cents--on a single envelope. Not much frivolity passed
through these mails.

Pony Express riders received an average salary of from one hundred
dollars to one hundred and twenty-five dollars a month. A few whose
rides were particularly dangerous or who had braved unusual dangers
received one hundred and fifty dollars. Station men and their assistants
were paid from fifty to one hundred dollars monthly.

Of the eighty riders usually in the service, half were always riding in
either direction, East and West. The average "run" was seventy-five
miles, the men going and coming over their respective divisions on each
succeeding day. Yet there were many exceptions to this rule, as will be
shown later. At the outset, although facilities for shorter relays had
been provided, it was planned to run each horse twenty-five miles with
an average of three horses to the rider; but it was soon found that a
horse could rarely continue at a maximum speed for so great a distance.
Consequently, it soon became the practice to change mounts every ten or
twelve miles or as nearly that as possible. The exact distance was
governed largely by the nature of the country. While this shortening of
the relay necessitated transferring the mochila many more times on each
trip, it greatly facilitated the schedule; for it was at once seen that
the average horse or pony in the Express service could be crowded to the
limit of its speed over the reduced distance.

One of the station-keeper's most important duties was to have a fresh
horse saddled and bridled a half hour before the Express was due. Only
two minutes time was allowed for changing mounts. The rider's approach
was watched for with keen anxiety. By daylight he could generally be
seen in a cloud of dust, if in the desert or prairie regions. If in the
mountains, the clear air made it possible for the station men to detect
his approach a long way off, provided there were no obstructions to hide
the view. At night the rider would make his presence known by a few
lusty whoops. Dashing up to the station, no time was wasted. The courier
would already have loosed