ed, they at once began preparations with tremendous activity. All
this happened early in the year 1860.

The first step was to form a corporation, the more adequately to conduct
the enterprise; and to that end the Central Overland California and
Pike's Peak Express Company was organized under a charter granted by the
Territory of Kansas. Besides the three original members of the firm, the
incorporators included General Superintendent B. F. Ficklin, together
with F. A. Bee, W. W. Finney, and John S. Jones, all tried and
trustworthy stage employees who were retained on account of their wide
experience in the overland traffic business. The new concern then took
over the old stage line from Atchison to Salt Lake City and purchased
the mail route and outfit then operating between Salt Lake City and
Sacramento. The latter, which had been running a monthly round trip
stage between these terminals, was known as the West End Division of the
Central Route, and was called the Chorpenning line.

Besides conducting the Pony Express, the corporation aimed to continue a
large passenger and freighting business, so it next absorbed the
Leavenworth and Pike's Peak Express Co., which had been organized a year
previously and had maintained a daily stage between Leavenworth and
Denver, on the Smoky Hill River Route.

By mutual agreement, Mr. Russell assumed managerial charge of the
Eastern Division of the Pony Express line which lay between St. Joseph
and Salt Lake City. Ficklin was stationed at Salt Lake City, the middle
point, in a similar capacity. Finney was made Western manager with
headquarters at San Francisco. These men now had to revise the route to
be traversed, equip it with relay or relief stations which must be
provisioned for men and horses, hire dependable men as station-keepers
and riders, and buy high grade horses[1] or ponies for the entire
course, nearly two thousand miles in extent. Between St. Joseph and Salt
Lake City, the company had its old stage route which was already well
supplied with stations. West of Salt Lake the old Chorpenning route had
been poorly equipped, which made it necessary to erect new stations over
much of this course of more than seven hundred miles. The entire line of
travel had to be altered in many places, in some instances to shorten
the distance, and in others, to avoid as much as possible, wild places
where Indians might easily ambush the riders.

The management was fortunate in having th