Russell, Majors and Waddell was a business partnership, based in Lexington, Missouri

Lexington, Missouri

Lexington is a city in Lafayette County, Missouri, United States. The population was 4,453 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Lafayette County. Located in western Missouri, Lexington lies about 40 miles east of Kansas City and is part of the Greater Kansas City Metropolitan Area...

, between William Hepburn Russell

William Hepburn Russell

William Hepburn Russell is often credited along with Alexander Majors and William B. Waddell as the founders, owners, and operators of the Pony Express. His public life is one of numerous business ventures, some successful and some failed...

, Alexander Majors

Alexander Majors

thumb|right|240px|Alexander MajorsAlexander 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 round trip....

, and William B. Waddell

William B. Waddell (Pony Express founder)

William Bradford Waddell is often credited along with Alexander Majors and William Hepburn Russell as the founders, owners, and operators of the Pony Express...

. It operated various transportation and communications services in the American West in the 1850s and early 1860s, including stagecoach

Stagecoach

A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...

 services and a private express mail

Express mail

In most postal systems express mail refers to an accelerated delivery service for which the customer pays a surcharge and receives faster delivery. Express mail is a service for domestic mail and is governed by a country's own postal administration...

 service. The firm is best known for its brief operation of the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company

Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company

The Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company was the parent company of the Pony Express.It was formed by William Russell, Alexander Majors and William Waddell, as a freighting company supplying goods to the western United States...

's Pony Express

Pony Express

The Pony Express was a fast mail service crossing the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the High Sierra from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, from April 3, 1860 to October 1861...

 in 1860 and 1861, which incurred heavy losses. In 1862 the partnership's stagecoach operations, which retained value after the collapse of the rest of the company, were bought out by Ben Holladay

Ben Holladay

Benjamin "Ben" Holladay was an American transportation businessman known as the "Stagecoach King" until his routes were taken over by Wells Fargo in 1866...

, and Russell, Majors and Waddell wound up its existence as an independent firm.