On this week in 1860, the Pony Express began. The short-lived overland mail service, which lasted for 18 months, made legends out of many of its riders. One of the most notable riders was Warren “Boston” Upson, who is buried in the Sacramento Historic City Cemetery. Warren was the son of Lauren Upson, who was the editor of the Sacramento Daily Union newspaper. Warren was responsible for carrying mail from Pollock Pines to Lake Tahoe, one of the most treacherous sections of the 1,800 mile trail b

On April 13, 1860, the first westward bound mail from the Overland Pony Express Company arrived at the B.F. Hastings building at the corner of Second and J Streets in Sacramento, the western terminus of the Overland Pony Express Company, before being transported by steamboat to San Francisco. The mail took 10 days to travel the approximately 1,800-mile journey. The Pony Express set a new standard for quick mail delivery and connected isolated California in the west with the news of the eastern U