While Russell, described as a good-looking man, lived the majority of his life on the edge on the western frontier, he was always more at home in the upper-class settings of the East coast.

[2] This firm obtained a consolidated contract with the War Department to supply the majority of military forts west of the Missouri River.

Acting as the firm's representative in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City, Russell lobbied for contracts with the War Department as well as for financing from banks and other sources.

Believing that this gold rush was the start of heavy emigration to the region, Russell, together with his former partner John S. Jones, gathered new investors, borrowed money, and organized a stage and express line to run to Denver.

Russell had not partner with Alexander Majors or William Waddell in the Leavenworth City & Pike's Peak Express Company; they thought it was too early to know whether the emigration would be sustained or merely a passing fad.

On October 28, 1859 the three men entered into a new partnership which assumed the assets and debts of the Leavenworth City & Pike's Peak Express Company.

By utilizing a short route and using mounted riders rather than traditional stagecoaches, they established a fast mail service between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, with letters delivered in 10 days, a duration many at the time said was impossible.

Russell, Majors, and Waddell had hoped to win an exclusive government mail contract to continue running the Pony Express, but that did not come about and the business venture proved to be a failure, losing upwards of $1,000 a day.

[11][12] By October 1861, the Pony Express was out of business due to the completion of the telegraph lines and the unwillingness of the national government to provide further funding.

In attempting to secure funding to continue running the Pony Express, Russell became mixed up in a scandal involving Secretary of War John Buchanan Floyd and Godard Bailey, a clerk for the Department of Interior.

Russell, Majors, and Waddell used this guarantee to secure a line of credit but the failure of the Pony Express now threatened to bankrupt the firm.

[13] Deep in debt and without his previous social connections, Russell attempted to regain his fortunes in a Colorado gold mining venture that resulted in failure.