page_title: Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company
section_title: Leavenworth City & Pike's Peak Express Company
hierarchical_section_title: Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company / Leavenworth City & Pike's Peak Express Company
caption_attribution_description: Concord stagecoach in the American West, ca. 1869. Source: Photographs of the American West: 1861-1912 US National Archives &amp; Records Administration Caption: "Typical stage of the Concord type used by express companies on the overland trails. Soldiers guard from atop, ca. 1869." Area: 1481x532 pix; top and bottom cropped from original. Size: 442 kb. Status: Sample digital images found in the course of ARC searches are in the public domain and may be downloaded by the researcher without charge (from NARA site).
context_page_description: The Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company was a stagecoach line that operated in the American West in the early 1860s, but it is most well known as the parent company of the Pony Express. It was formed as a subsidiary of the freighting company Russell, Majors, and Waddell, after the latter two partners bought out Russell's stage line, the Leavenworth and Pikes Peak Express Company. The stage line had made its first journey from Westport, Missouri, to Denver on March 9, 1859.
  Its stage lines ran from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Denver and Salt Lake City and it succeeded the George Chorpenning contract for mail service from Utah to California in May 1860. In an attempt to win a more lucrative contract with the United States government, it started an express mail service between St. Joseph and San Francisco on April 3, 1860, known as the Pony Express.
  Maintenance of frequent stage service and heavy losses from the Pony Express brought embarrassment to the C. O. C. & P. P. Express. When the Pony Express became obsolete upon completion of the Transcontinental Telegraph, the business ran out of cash and was sold to Ben Holladay for $100,000.
context_section_description: In July 1858, Green Russell and Sam Bates found a small amount of gold in Little Dry Creek, the first significant gold discovery in the Rocky Mountain region. This discovery signaled the start of the Pike's Peak Gold Rush. William H. Russell was in Leavenworth, Kansas, when he heard that gold had been found in the Rocky Mountains. Believing that this gold rush was the start of heavy emigration to the region, Russell, together with John S. Jones a former freighting partner, gathered new investors, borrowed money, and organized a stage and express line to run to Denver. The new service was called the Leavenworth City & Pike's Peak Express Company and transported "passengers, mail, freight, and gold" to and from the Pike's Peak area on a trail between the Republican and Smoky Hill forks of the Kansas River.
  The new firm surveyed and laid out a 687-mile route, built twenty seven stations, bought new coaches and mules, and hired enough men to tend to all their holdings. The first trip occurred in March 1859 and took nineteen days, during which they finished constructing the route. Subsequent trips took as little as six days and cost $100.00 for a passenger ticket, $1.00 a pound for express packages, and 25¢ for each letter carried. The town of Denver had donated 53 lots to the Leavenworth City & Pike's Peak Express Company and celebrated the first arrival with an "extra" published by the Rocky Mountain News. The returning coach to Leavenworth brought with it $3,500 worth of gold and was celebrated with speeches and music.
  While many people came to the Pike's Peak region, few could afford the cost of the stagecoach and instead traveled on foot or horseback. Russell and Jones wanted to make up the difference by securing a contract to deliver mail for the United States government. On May 11, 1859, the Leavenworth City & Pike's Peak Express Company purchased Hockaday & Company the firm that owned the postal contract between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Salt Lake City. Hockaday & Company consisted of only a few light stagecoaches and used only seven stations along the route from Missouri to Salt Lake City. The postal contract ran until November 1860 and had been profitable until the post office reduced the frequency of trips and payments for delivery.
  After consolidating the two companies, Russell and Jones redirected their Denver coaches to Hockaday's more northern route, having run on their original route for less than six weeks. The new route of Leavenworth City & Pike's Peak Express traveled north to Fort Kearney and then turned south toward Denver at Julesburg, while the Salt Lake City traffic continued on via Fort Laramie and Fort Bridger. The route was divided into three sections; the first section ran from St. Joseph, Missouri, to where the lines split at Julesburg and contained nineteen stations. The second section consisted of the route from Julesburg to South Pass, while the third section ran from South Pass to Salt Lake City. The firm constructed new stations along the route, sixteen to forty miles apart, providing rooms and food for passengers and barns for mule teams. The construction of the new stations and the abandonment of the stations on the original route, were a financial burden on the company.
  By the fall of 1859, the Leavenworth City & Pike's Peak Express Company's debts were threatening to collapse the firm. Employees were not being paid, stations ran low on feed, and the firm's creditors were owed more than $525,000. William H. Russell did not partner with Alexander Majors or William Waddell in the Leavenworth City & Pike's Peak Express Company; they thought it was too early to know whether the emigration would be sustained or merely a passing fad. That, however, did not stop Russell from using the reputation of Russell, Majors, and Waddell to secure credit for the Leavenworth City & Pike's Peak Express Company. This put a strain on the relationship of the three men especially since they had so recently avoided financial disaster with their War Department contracts.
  Nevertheless, Majors and Waddell knew that 
caption: Typical stagecoach of the Concord type used by express companies on the overland trails. Soldiers guard from atop, ca. 1869
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