Sale 1207 — Outstanding Pony Express Covers from the George J. Kramer Collection
Sale Date — Wednesday, 25 September, 2019
Category — Pony Express Covers
Autograph letter signed by Pony Express founder William H. Russell to Judge William A. Carter, the station agent at Fort Bridger, announcing the new rate of $2.50 per quarter-ounceWilliam H. Russell. One of the three co-founders of the Pony Express, autograph letter signed "W. H. Russsell Prst." on printed letterhead of "Office of The Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Co., Leavenworth City, Kansas," dated July 31, 1860, to Judge William A. Carter at Fort Bridger, informing Carter of the new $2.50 rate per quarter-ounce:
Sir, We have reduced the Tariff on letters to $2.50 pr 1/4 oz & pr addil. weight or fractions given by the regulations of the P.O. Dept. Very respectfully, W. H. Russell Prst.
Notations at lower left with names and numbers in odd arrangement (possibly a code)
A RARE LETTER FROM WILLIAM H. RUSSELL, ONE OF THE PRINCIPALS IN THE PONY EXPRESS, TO JUDGE WILLIAM A. CARTER, THE STATION AGENT AT FORT BRIDGER, WITH SIGNIFICANT CONTENT RELATED TO THE EARLY OPERATION OF THE PONY EXPRESS.
This notice from William H. Russell, president of the Central Overland California & Pike's Peak Express Company, is dated July 31, 1860, and was probably sent with the westbound Pony mail that departed from St. Joseph on Thursday, August 1, 1860, and arrived in San Francisco on August 12. It would have reached Fort Bridger around August 6. The new fractional rate of $2.50 per quarter-ounce--half of the current $5.00 per half-ounce rate--took effect in San Francisco with the Pony trip departing on August 15. The first California newspaper ad with the "change of tariff" appeared on August 15 in the Daily Alta California.
The recipient, William A. Carter (1818-1881), was born in Virginia and served as a soldier and sutler in Florida during the Seminole wars. He came to Fort Bridger in 1857 with the Utah Expedition and remained there until his death, with active interests in provisioning, mining, lumbering, and ranching. He served as postmaster and probate judge. In 1860 and 1861 he was COC&PP's Fort Bridger station agent on the Central Route. Carter's ledger of Pony Express arrivals and departures is in private hands.
Illustrated in Frajola-Kramer-Walske, The Pony Express: A Postal History (page 25). Ex Haas.
