Wells Fargo & Company Pony Express, $1.00 Red (143L3). Position L1, ample margins, bright shade, small tear at top and diagonal crease at lower right, tied by clear strike of blue "Wells, Fargo & Co. Express, Folsom" oval handstamp, bold strike of blue "Pony Express, Sacramento, Jul. 4" (1861) oval datestamp on 10¢ Green on White Star Die entire (U32) with Wells Fargo & Company printed red frank, addressed to Miss Drucilla A. Beach, Massena, New York, pen cancel on embossed stamp, no post office markings, carried with the mail that left San Francisco on July 3, 1861, the first trip under the new government mail contract--with original letters datelined at Folsom, the first on July 1 from Mrs. E. D. Shirland, cousin of Charles R. Shirland, and the second on July 3 from Charles; Mrs. Shirland writes: "My Dear Cousin, If not cousin now I hope it soon will be as Cousin Charlie has informed me of an engagement existing between yourself and him. He also has told me of his intentions of sending for you to come to California" and warns her to avoid travelers who are "not fit companions for a lady to associate with"; Charles informs Drucilla that he has sent her $50 and another $350 draft (the receipt for this Wells Fargo draft is located in their archives), explains her travel arrangements, and states that it is 2:00 p.m. (on July 3) and "the Pony starts on his journey overland to the Eastern states at 4 o'clock."

EXTREMELY FINE. THE ONLY RECORDED PONY EXPRESS COVER FROM FOLSOM, WHICH MADE A JOURNEY IN BOTH DIRECTIONS--24 MILES WEST FROM FOLSOM TO SACRAMENTO, WHERE IT WAS PLACED IN THE MOCHILLA, THEN BACK EAST TO FOLSOM AND ONWARD FROM PLACERVILLE BY PONY EXPRESS ON THE FIRST TRIP UNDER THE NEW GOVERNMENT CONTRACT.

The government awarded the mail contract along the Central Route to the Overland Mail Company on March 12, 1861, effective July 1. The contract paid $1,000,000 per year for mail/passenger service along the Central Route and required the company "...during the continuance of their Contract, or until completion of The Overland telegraph, to run a Pony Express semi-weekly at a Schedule time of ten days eight months of the year and twelve days four months of the year, and to convey for the Government free of charge five pounds of Mail Matter; with liberty of charging the public for transportation of letters by said express not exceeding One dollar per half ounce..."

This period of operation is known as Phase III, which corresponds to Rate Period 4 (July 1-October 24, 1861). On July 1 Wells Fargo & Co. issued new stamps and envelopes to reflect the agreed-upon government contract rate for the Pony Express. The fee for Pony Express service between Placerville and St. Joseph (or Atchison) could not exceed $1.00 per half-ounce. If Wells Fargo & Co. carried the letter by express to or from Placerville (for example, from San Francisco), an extra express fee was charged. If the sender used one of Wells Fargo & Co.'s stamped envelopes with the printed frank and 10¢ embossed postage, the total amount paid was $1.20 ($1.00 for Pony Express service plus 20¢ for additional express charge and postage). The Wells Fargo ad noted that "letters not enclosed as above [in government franked envelopes] will be charged at the rate of 25 cents each [in addition to the $1.00 Pony Express fee]." Since the July 1 commencement date of the new contract was known well in advance at both the eastern and western terminal offices, the $1.00 rate went into effect simultaneously, and new stamps were ready for the first eastbound trip.

The first trip under the new contract was an eastbound departure from San Francisco on July 3. It is not known when this mail arrived in St. Joseph, but the Confederate bushwackers' destruction of rail lines and bridges on the Hannibal & St. Louis Railroad had already caused disruptions, presaging the Platte Bridge Railroad Tragedy of September 1861 which prompted the relocation of the eastern terminus from St. Joseph to Atchison. Another cover from this trip is known, with a San Francisco July 3 Running Pony datestamp (FKW E109, Siegel Sale 979, lot 30). Both covers entered the mail without datestamps; the July 3 cover was cancelled on arrival with a New York City grid, and this July 4 cover was pen-cancelled.

The unusual east-to-west and west-to-east journey this cover took is probably best explained by the timing. Rather than hold the cover until the Pony mochilla passed through Folsom, it was sent by train to Sacramento to meet the express there. The Sacramento office applied its July 4 oval datestamp and the cover made its way back to Folsom and on to Placerville, where the Pony relay started.

FKW Census E110. Illustrated in Coburn, Letters of Gold (page 259) and Frajola-Kramer-Walske, The Pony Express: A Postal History (page 60). Ex Haas. With 1982 P.F. certificate.

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