| Pikes Peak Express, Central Overland, Hockadays Mail Route, Fort Kearney
Leavenworth & Pike's Peak Express Company
Leavenworth & Pikes Peak Express was developed by William Russell during 1858. Incorporated in February 1859, the Leavenworth & Pikes Peak Express Company was owned by William Russell, John Jones and Luther Smoot
By April, concord stagecoaches were running the 687 miles from Leavenworth, Kansas to Denver
In a smooth but cunning move,William Russell obtained the Hockadays mail route Central Overland California Company from St. Joseph, Missouri to Salt Lake City, Utah including Fort Kearney, Fort Laramie and Denver with new Concord stagecoaches running as early as June on Hockadays mail route
Hockadays mail route was an expensive start up company. Payment for forage, wages for 175 men and loan payments on equipment alone came to one thousand dollars a day
With creditors knocking at the door and a half million in debt, Russell turned to his old partners Alexander Majors and William Waddell
In October, 1859, the Leavenworth & Pike's Peak Express Company was incorporated by Majors and Waddell into the Central Overland, California & Pike's Peak Express Company and later just abbreviated to C. O. C. |
Pikes Peak Express, Central Overland, Hockadays Mail Route
