Hi, Thomas here. You're listening to a preview episode. You can enjoy the entire story

tonight by subscribing to our supporters' feed. There you'll get access to the entire

back catalogue, bonus episodes, and more, and it's all completely ad-free. Click the link

below to learn more. And thank you so so much. Me and the team really appreciate your

support.

The Pony Express was a horse and rider male service that operated across the United States

heartland and the west coast from April 1860 to October 1861. Riders were tasked with boldly

carrying sacks of male across the wild and open landscape, all on the promise of delivering

messages in about 10 days. But even though the Pony Express closed just 19 months after it began,

due to financial woes, it still managed to capture the public's imagination.

The legend of the Pony Express is very much rooted in the story of how America became

a bi-coastal nation. For that, we have to travel back to 1803. When the third president of the

United States, Thomas Jefferson, decided he wanted easy access to the Mississippi River.

Jefferson had been inaugurated in 1801 when the country comprised just 16 states, the most

western of which was Tennessee. Beyond was the Louisiana Territory, a region of land that stretched

a modern day Canada down to the Gulf of Mexico. Between the two nestled the Mississippi River,

which had served as a vital resource for drinking water, fishing, and agriculture long before European

settlers arrived. The beginning of Jefferson's presidency coincided with the

transfer of the Louisiana Territory from Spain back to France. At the time, the French,

under General Napoleon Bonaparte, had plans to reestablish a dominant North American colony.

Understanding France's military power, Jefferson was keen for the United States to secure access

to the port city of New Orleans. Located at the bottom of the Mississippi River, near the Gulf of

...