"WANTED--young, skinny, wiry fellows, not over 18. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. Wages $25 a week..." (Biggs 7) When this notice entered the paper in 1860, half a million Americans lived west of the Rockies.(Reinfeld 9) Two thousand miles separated them from the rest of the United States; pioneers traveled the treacherous trails to reach California and the prospect of gold.(Reinfeld 17) These pioneers hoped for a short trip, never settling down only sweeping up their fortune and returning home rich men, although most met different fates many including isolation. Making life even lonelier in California was the lack of proper mail delivery between the West and East Coast. Some came to California and realized it was possible to make more money from the miners than by mining gold, Alexander Todd discovered that miners in the remote camps would pay top dollar for mail delivery from...