Page:Edward Ellis--Alden the Pony Express Rider.djvu/49

 were often six feet deep and seventeen feet long, flaring out from the bottom to the round covered top. They cost from a thousand to fifteen hundred dollars apiece; the mules, which had to be of the best, ranged from $500 to $1,000 a pair. Thus a ten-mule team was sometimes worth $7,000 per wagon, without including provisions, salaries and minor items. At one time, the single firm of Russell, Majors & Waddell had in service 6,250 of these huge wagons, and 75,000 oxen, more than were operating in all the rest of the United States.

Since our interest henceforward lies with the Pony Express, a few more preliminary words must be given to that unique enterprise. It has been said that the shortest time trip the Butterfield route was twenty-one days between San Francisco and New York. The Pony Express immediately cut this time in half, an achievement which ranks among the greatest of the last century.