Alexander Majors

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Alexander Majors (left) is honored with Kansas City "father" John Calvin McCoy and Mountainman James Bridger at Pioneer Square in Westport in Kansas City.

Alexander Majors (1814 - 1900) was a U.S. businessman, who along with William Hepburn Russell and William B. Waddell founded the Pony Express.

Alexander Majors got his start in overland freight on the Santa Fe Trail in 1848. On his first trip, he set a new time record of 92 days for the 1564 mile (2500 km) round trip.

Majors was awarded contracts to haul supplies to United States Army posts along the Santa Fe Trail in 1853.

In 1854 he teamed up with William B. Waddell and William Hepburn Russell. Majors was responsible for the freighting part of the business, Waddell was to manage the office, and Russell was to use is Washington DC contacts to acquire new contracts. Waddell chose be a silent partner, so the firm was initially called "Majors and Russell".

In about 1860, the firm now known as "Russell, Majors and Waddell" formed the "Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company" to get the contract to deliver mail between Missouri and California, which had previously been held by Butterfield Overland Mail which was delivering the mail in 25 days or more over a route that went through the South. With Civil War clouds brewing, the group proposed delivering the mail over a central route through Salt Lake City, Utah and proposed doing it in 10 days via a horse relay called the Pony Express.

Even though they succeeded in making the deliveries they did not get the contract and went bankrupt when the Transcontinental Telegraph opened in October 1861.

He provided rail ties for the crews of the Union Pacific Railroad working on the first trans-continental railroad. After the railroad was completed, he continued to haul freight to towns not yet serviced by the railroad.