Pony Express

Posted by nancyp 12/07/2019 0 Comment(s)

At some point, you know you want it -  express delivery. If you recall from your studies of the late 1800s, a time of great innovation in the U.S., the pony express was faster than some other form of communication, which at one point had been faster than some other form of communication as well. And now, in 2019, with one day delivery an option...you follow in the hoof beats of history.

 

Click (clop) and ship.

 

Behind the scenes, as you place an order, thousands of people work to provide the magical "direct to consumer" supply chain that deposits your package at your feet. They are using their memory systems connected to several hundred different databases, also built by humans, to get you the package you wish.

 

Inevitably, there will be disappointments this holiday. Something will arrive late, or the wrong color. We know this. And so to offset your packaging snafus, you may want to take a moment to be grateful for how ponies helped us get us from there, in the dusty caverns of travel, to the warehouses upon which you've come to depend.

 

The Pony Express only lasted for 18 months of 1860 to 1861, as transmission wires for the Congressionally-authorized Transcontinental Telegraph Line were concurrently built to send telegrams. In  October of 1861, when New York and San Francisco were finally connected by wire, the Pony Express ceased to be useful.

 

Across 1,800 miles and in less than the 10 days a series of horses could travel from one of 50 posts across the country, progress emerged: high tech.  And in case you're wondering just how fast the US was expanding, keep in mind that the Louisiana Purchase had occurred only a scant 58 years before. 

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