Riders of the Purple Sage

   It began as the brainchild of common carrier Russell, Majors & Waddell. The plan was simple: Launch an express mail service that would connect east to west. A 19th century FedEx, it would cut the delivery time for a letter to California from months to days.

   It owns a place in American lore, an archetype of American ingenuity, drive and hard work. It typifies the taming of the West. But it was plagued with problems from the start:

• The cost of sending a letter via courrier was about five bucks--a week's wages for a workingman in the day
• Although it is linked inextricably with the history of the West, it lasted little more than one year
• It drowned its owners in a sea of red ink

   By all measures it was an abominable failure. Perhaps its biggest failure is one that continues to plague American industry: underestimating new technology. Within 15 months of its launch it was obsolete: replaced unceremoniously by the transcontinental telegraph in 1861.

   But unlike other technologies like the steam engine it refused to ride quietly away. A 19th century huckster named Buffalo Bill Cody made a living for four decades playing off of it as a symbol of the old West.

   Millions of school children studied it, with myth replacing facts over the years

   The American movie director John Ford included it in his great Western epic, Fort Apache, even though the movie events take place a full 15 years after it shut down.

   As those generations of American school children have, we remember it today for what it says about our national character, and ability to climb tall mountains-literally-to solve problems.

   150 years ago today, April 3, 1860, riders were up for the first time on the Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company--to be known forever as The Pony Express.

   Just thought you might like to know.