What is the pony express rides folktale?

Answer 1

I don't know about "folk tale". The Pony Express really did exist; it carried mail between St. Joseph, Missouri and the west coast (specifically Sacramento, California). This was significant because there were at the time it started no cross-continental telegraph lines or railroads; it was, however, possible to transmit a message from the east coast to St. Joseph by telegraph or via rail and have it carried on horseback from there to Sacramento (where it would then travel down the Sacramento River via steamer to San Francisco).

There were stations about every 10 miles along the route, and the rider would switch horses at each station (10 miles represents about the maximum distance a fresh horse could travel at a full gallop without resting). A given rider would travel 75-100 miles before resting (thus changing horses between 7 and 10 times, on average). This enabled communication between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts in as little as ten days.

The first packet carried by the Pony Express travelled from New York and Washington, DC to St. Joseph via rail. The courier missed a connection in Detroit and was two hours late arriving at Hannibal, MO, thus missing his connection there as well. The railroad cleared the line and dispatched a special express train direct from Hannibal to St. Joseph, crossing the state of Missouri from the Mississippi to the Missouri River in a record 4 hours, 51 minutes... an average speed of 40 miles per hour, nearly unheard-of for the time. The first rider left St. Joseph at about 7 pm on April 4, and the packet arrived at San Francisco at 1 am on April 14, thus vindicating the Pony Express' claim of coast-to-coast delivery in 10 days.