A rider for the Pony Express, a fast mail-delivery service between St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, California. The service only operated from April 1860 to October 1861, when the first transcontinental telegraph line made it obsolete, but it became legendary out of all proportion to its duration, as an example of American individuality, ruggedness and "can-do" spirit. The idea of fast [...] [tvtropes.org]