When replaced by the telegraph, the Pony Express quickly became romanticized and became part of the lure of the American West. Its reliance on the ability and the endurance of hardy riders and fast horses was seen as evidence of a rugged American individualism of the frontier times. Along the long and arduous route used by the Pony Express, 190 stations were used. The stations and the station keepers were essential to the successful, timely and smooth operation of the Pony Express mail system