The route was from St.Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, a distance of two thousand miles, across the Plains, over a dreary stretch of sagebrush and alkali desert, and through two great mountain ranges.
The system was really a relay race against time.

Stations were built at intervals averaging fifteen miles apart.

A rider's route covered three stations, with an exchange of horses at each, so that he was expected at the beginning to cover close to forty-five miles--a good ride when one must average fifteen miles an hour.
The firm undertaking the enterprise had been busy for some time picking the best ponies to be had for money, and the lightest, most wiry and most experienced riders.

This was a life that appealed to me, and I struck for a job.

I was pretty young in years, but I had already earned a reputation for coming safe out of perilous adventures, and I was hired.
Naturally our equipment was the very lightest.