The organizers of the Pony Express realized that carrying the mail at top speed across wide, untamed stretches of the continent would not be easy, and they wanted the best men they could find for the job. Between February and April 1860, hundreds of young men applied for the position. No more than eighty were hired, and these were tough, capable individuals who were drawn by a love of adventure rather than the promise of fame or high pay. One former bullwhacker (oxen driver), William Campbell, remembered his motivation to join:

Driving slow oxen seemed pretty tame compared with jumping on spirited ponies and going full tilt along the old trail, past the emigrant trains and freight outfits, or even bands of Indians. I was just eighteen, and boylike, craved such excitement; so I mustered up courage to ask Mr. Majors to let...