The riders raced over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, through Placerville, California and on to Sacramento. Around midnight on April 14, 1860, the first mail pouch was delivered via the Pony Express to San Francisco. It only operated for 18 months because:There, Pony Express riders would take the messages to the next telegraph station coming from the west. From there, the messages were dispatched to San Francisco. October 24, 1861: Both the east and west coast are finally linked up by the trans-continental telegraph line.