Download or read book The Saga of the Pony Express written by Joseph J. DiCerto and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The government in the mid-1800s needed better communication with its far-flung citizens in the West. Three visionaries dreamt up a seemingly impossible solution: the Pony Express. An elite cadre of riders would carry the U.S. mail across 2,000 miles on inhospitable wilderness in 10 days. The Saga of the Pony Express proves there's a reason some legends endure.
Download or read book Orphans Preferred written by Christopher Corbett and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2004-09-14 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “WANTED. YOUNG, SKINNY, WIRY FELLOWS. NOT OVER 18. MUST BE EXPERT RIDERS. WILLING TO RISK DEATH DAILY. ORPHANS PREFERRED.” —California newspaper help-wanted ad, 1860 The Pony Express is one of the most celebrated and enduring chapters in the history of the United States, a story of the all-American traits of bravery, bravado, and entrepreneurial risk that are part of the very fabric of the Old West. No image of the American West in the mid-1800s is more familiar, more beloved, and more powerful than that of the lone rider galloping the mail across hostile Indian territory. No image is more revered. And none is less understood. Orphans Preferred is both a revisionist history of this magnificent and ill-fated adventure and an entertaining look at the often larger-than-life individuals who created and perpetuated the myth of “the Pony,” as it is known along the Pony Express trail that runs from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California. The Pony Express is a story that exists in the annals of Americana where fact and fable collide, a story as heroic as the journey of Lewis and Clark, as complex and revealing as the legacy of Custer’s Last Stand, and as muddled and freighted with yarns as Paul Revere’s midnight ride. Orphans Preferred is a fresh and exuberant reexamination of this great American story.
Download or read book The Pony Express written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-01-11 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures of important people, places, and events. *Explains the route of the Pony Express and accounts from Pony Express riders. *Includes footnotes and a bibliography for further reading. "I, [name], do hereby swear, before the Great and Living God, that during my engagement, and while I am an employee of Russell, Majors, and Waddell, I will, under no circumstances, use profane language, that I will drink no intoxicating liquors, that I will not quarrel or fight with any other employee of the firm, and that in every respect I will conduct myself honestly, be faithful to my duties, and so direct all my acts as to win the confidence of my employers, so help me God." - The oath taken by Pony Express riders Although it was only in operation for about 18 months, the Pony Express remains the most famous and romanticized mailing system in American history, and it still instantly brings to mind all of the old themes of the untamed frontier and the Wild West. Starting shortly before the Civil War erupted across the United States, the Pony Express connected the east and west by having riders deliver mail from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California, a route setup by previous explorations and a system of relay stations and waypoints. When working in perfect unison, the Pony Express dramatically cut down the time it took to travel to California, with the mail traveling nearly 1,900 miles to California just 10 days after the beginning of the journey in Missouri. Naturally, the Pony Express also ran from west to east as well. Of course, part of the allure of the Pony Express is in the way it challenged riders and horses, which ties it to Americans' fond visions of the frontier as an untamed landscape that only the most pioneering and rugged individuals could survive. At the same time, the Pony Express needed small riders to reduce the weight being carried by the horses; Mark Twain described the Pony Express riders he saw as "usually a little bit of a man." To get from St. Joseph to Sacramento, riders would generally switch horses every 10 miles at a new stop, and riders traveled at all hours of the day, sometimes riding 20 straight hours to reach the destination on time. Riders typically traveled over 70 miles a day, working in tough conditions and not necessarily safe ones, given the fact that the routes forced them to contend with bandits and potentially hostile Native Americans nearby. The most notable disruption came during the Paiute War, when members of the Paiute tribe attacked Pony Express outposts, but it would ultimately be technological advances that made the Pony Express obsolete. The advent of telegraph lines in the early 1860s eventually made communication between east and west much faster, easier, and safe. The Pony Express: The History and Legacy of America's Most Famous Mail Service comprehensively examines the history of the Pony Express from beginning to end, explaining how it operated and who worked for it. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Pony Express like never before, in no time at all.
Download or read book Expressly Yours Samantha written by Becky Lower and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-03-16 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Samantha Hughes has one day to escape from her wicked uncle, and a sign in the post office is her answer. She'll cut her hair to pose as a man and become Sam Hughes, a Pony Express rider. Valerian Fitzpatrick doesn't want the weight of responsibility that his brothers have in the family business. Fortunately, the Pony Express offers a chance to make his own way in the world. He assumes his new buddy, Sam, is on the run from the law, until she's hit by a stray gunshot and he has to undress her to staunch the wound. Friendship quickly turns to attraction - and more - but when Sam's uncle tracks her down, she is forced to run yet again. Val's determined to find her, but will a future with Sam mean giving up the freedom he's always craved? Sensuality Level: Sensual
Download or read book The Pony Express written by Richard C. Frajola and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book West Like Lightning written by Jim DeFelice and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-05-08 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Western Writers of America Spur Awards Finalist, Best Western Historical Nonfiction "A GROUNDBREAKING WORK. ... The first comprehensive history of the legendary transcontinental experiment in mail delivery in sixty years." —True West "This rollicking account of the daring enterprise known as the Pony Express brings its era and its legendary characters to life." —San Francisco Chronicle The new definitive history of the Pony Express by the #1 bestselling coauthor of American Sniper, illustrated with 50 images On the eve of the Civil War, three American businessmen launched an audacious plan to create a financial empire by transforming communications across the hostile territory between the nation’s two coasts. In the process, they created one of the most enduring icons of the American West: the Pony Express. Daring young men with colorful names like “Bronco Charlie” and “Sawed-Off Jim” galloped at speed over a vast and unforgiving landscape, etching an irresistible tale that passed into myth almost instantly. Equally an improbable success and a business disaster, the Pony Express came and went in just eighteen months, but not before uniting and captivating a nation on the brink of being torn apart. Jim DeFelice’s brilliantly entertaining West Like Lightning is the first major history of the Pony Express to put its birth, life, and legacy into the full context of the American story. The Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company—or “Pony Express,” as it came to be known—was part of a plan by William Russell, Alexander Majors, and William Waddell to create the next American Express, a transportation and financial juggernaut that already dominated commerce back east. All that stood in their way were almost two thousand miles of uninhabited desert, ice-capped mountains, oceanic plains roamed by Indian tribes, whitewater-choked rivers, and harsh, unsettled wilderness. The Pony used a relay system of courageous horseback riders to ferry mail halfway across a continent in just ten days. The challenges the riders faced were enormous, yet the Pony Express succeeded, delivering thousands of letters at record speed. The service instantly became the most direct means of communication between the eastern United States and its far western territories, helping to firmly connect them to the Union. Populated with cast of characters including Abraham Lincoln (news of whose electoral victory the Express delivered to California), Wild Bill Hickock, Buffalo Bill Cody (who fed the legend of the Express in his Wild West Show), and Mark Twain (who celebrated the riders in Roughing It), West Like Lightning masterfully traces the development of the Pony Express and follows it from its start in St. Joseph, Missouri—the edge of the civilized world—west to Sacramento, the capital of California, then booming from the gold rush. Jim DeFelice, who traveled the Pony’s route in his research, plumbs the legends, myths, and surprising truth of the service, exploring its lasting relevance today as a symbol of American enterprise, audacity, and daring.
Download or read book Come on Seabiscuit written by Ralph Moody and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2003-01-01 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Great Depression, Seabiscuit captured the hearts of Americans from the streets to the White House, winning more money than any horse at that time and shattering speed records across the country. Moving and inspirational, "Come on Seabiscuit!" is a reminder of the qualities that make a real American champion.
Download or read book Buffalo Bill s America written by Louis S. Warren and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 674 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody was the most famous American of his age. He claimed to have worked for the Pony Express when only a boy and to have scouted for General George Custer. But what was his real story? And how did a frontiersman become a worldwide celebrity? In this prize-winning biography, acclaimed author Louis S. Warren explains not only how Cody exaggerated his real experience as an army scout and buffalo hunter, but also how that experience inspired him to create the gigantic, traveling spectacle known as Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. A dazzling mix of Indians, cowboys, and vaqueros, they performed on two continents for three decades, offering a surprisingly modern view of the United States and a remarkably democratic version of its history. This definitive biography reveals the genius of America’s greatest showman, and the startling history of the American West that drove him and his performers to the world stage.
Download or read book Mustang written by Deanne Stillman and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2009-06-01 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A fascinating narrative with all the grace and power embodied in the wild horses that once populated the Western range . . . [A] magnificently told saga.” —Albuquerque Journal A Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction Book of the Year Mustang is the sweeping story of the wild horse in the culture, history, and popular imagination of the American West. It follows the wild horse across time, from its evolutionary origins on this continent to its return with the conquistadors, its bloody battles on the old frontier, its iconic status in Buffalo Bill shows and early westerns, and its plight today as it makes its last stand on the vanishing range. With the Bureau of Land Management proposing to euthanize thousands of horses and ever-encroaching development threatening the land, the mustang’s position has never been more perilous. But as Stillman reveals, the horses are still running wild despite all the obstacles, with spirit unbroken. Hailed by critics nationwide, Mustang is “brisk, smart, thorough, and surprising” (Atlantic Monthly). “Like the best nonfiction writers of our time (Jon Krakauer and Bruce Chatwin come to mind), Stillman’s prose is inviting, her voice authoritative and her vision imaginative and impressively broad.” —Los Angeles Times “Powerful . . . Stillman’s talent as a writer makes this impossible [to stop reading], to the mustang’s benefit.” —Orion “A circumspect writer passionate about her purpose can produce a significant gift for readers. Stillman’s wonderful chronicle of America’s mustangs is an excellent example.” —The Seattle Times
Download or read book The Oregon Trail written by David Dary and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major one-volume history of the Oregon Trail from its earliest beginnings to the present, by a prize-winning historian of the American West. Starting with an overview of Oregon Country in the early 1800s, a vast area then the object of international rivalry among Spain, Britain, Russia, and the United States, David Dary gives us the whole sweeping story of those who came to explore, to exploit, and, finally, to settle there. Using diaries, journals, company and expedition reports, and newspaper accounts, David Dary takes us inside the experience of the continuing waves of people who traveled the Oregon Trail or took its cutoffs to Utah, Nevada, Montana, Idaho, and California. He introduces us to the fur traders who set up the first “forts” as centers to ply their trade; the missionaries bent on converting the Indians to Christianity; the mountain men and voyageurs who settled down at last in the fertile Willamette Valley; the farmers and their families propelled west by economic bad times in the East; and, of course, the gold-seekers, Pony Express riders, journalists, artists, and entrepreneurs who all added their unique presence to the land they traversed. We meet well-known figures–John Jacob Astor, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, John Frémont, the Donners, and Red Cloud, among others–as well as dozens of little-known men, women, and children who jotted down what they were seeing and feeling in journals, letters, or perhaps even on a rock or a gravestone. Throughout, Dary keeps us informed of developments in the East and their influence on events in the West, among them the building of the transcontinental railroad and the efforts of the far western settlements to become U.S. territories and eventually states. Above all, The Oregon Trail offers a panoramic look at the romance, colorful stories, hardships, and joys of the pioneers who made up this tremendous and historic migration.
Download or read book Little Britches written by Ralph Moody and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 1991-01-01 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ralph Moody was eight years old in 1906 when his family moved from New Hampshire to a Colorado ranch. Through his eyes we experience the pleasures and perils of ranching there early in the twentieth century. Auctions and roundups, family picnics, irrigation wars, tornadoes and wind storms give authentic color to Little Britches. So do adventures, wonderfully told, that equip Ralph to take his father's place when it becomes necessary. Little Britches was the literary debut of Ralph Moody, who wrote about the adventures of his family in eight glorious books, all available as Bison Books.
Download or read book Riders of the Pony Express written by Ralph Moody and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 1958-01-01 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chronicles the eighteen-month operation of the Pony Express, explaining why and how it was created, describing the challenges faced by riders, and discussing.
Download or read book Black Storm Comin written by DIANE LEE WILSON and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-12-11 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WANTED: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen. Must be expert riders. Willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. When Colton Wescott sees this sign for the Pony Express, he thinks he has the solution to his problems. He's stuck with his ma and two younger sisters on the wrong side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, with no way to get across. They were on the wagon train heading to California when Pa accidentally shot Colton and then galloped away. Ma is sick, and Colton needs money to pay the doctor. He'd make good money as a Pony rider. he also needs to get to California to deliver freedom papers to Ma's sister, a runaway slave. The Pony Express could get him there too... Does Colton have what it takes to be a Pony Express rider? And if so, will traveling the dangerous route over the mountains bring him closer to family, freedom, and everything he holds dear?
Download or read book Stagecoach written by Philip L. Fradkin and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2002-04-24 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sweeping in scope, as revealing of an era as it is of a company, Stagecoach is the epic story of Wells Fargo and the American West, by award-winning writer Philip L. Fradkin. The trail of Wells Fargo runs through nearly every imaginable landscape and icon of frontier folklore: the California Gold Rush, the Pony Express, the transcontinental railroad, the Civil and Indian Wars. From the Great Plains to the Rockies to the Pacific Ocean, the company's operations embraced almost all social, cultural, and economic activities west of the Mississippi, following one of the greatest migrations in American history. Fortune seekers arriving in California after the discovery of gold in 1849 couldn't bring the necessities of home with them. So Wells Fargo express offices began providing basic services such as the exchange of gold dust for coin, short-term deposits and loans, and reliable delivery and receipt of letters, money, and goods to and from distant places. As its reputation for speed and dependability grew, the sight of a red-and-yellow Wells Fargo stagecoach racing across the prairie came to symbolize not only safe passage but faith in a nation's progress. In fact, for a time Wells Fargo was the most powerful and widespread institution in the American West, even surpassing the presence of the federal government. Stagecoach is a fascinating and rare combination of Western and business history. Along with its colorful association with the frontier -- Wyatt Earp, Black Bart, Buffalo Bill -- readers will discover that swiftness, security, and connectivity have been constants in Wells Fargo's history, and that these themes remain just as important today, 150 years later.
Download or read book Grayfox The Journals of Corrie and Christopher written by Michael Phillips and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2016-03-15 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Zach Hollister hears stories of the first Pony Express riders, he jumps at the chance to finally strike out on his own and leave Miracle Springs behind. But he soon learns that the Pony Express Trail holds more than the promise of adventure, independence, and great pay. It's a challenging and dangerous road that will lead him to discover who he truly is.
Download or read book Fallout written by Kkat and published by . This book was released on 2017-05-05 with total page 1650 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Along the Ramparts of the Tetons written by Robert B. Betts and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 1978 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The magnificent valley of Jackson Hole at the base of the soaring Teton Range has long been a stage on which a remarkable series of events has been acted out. From the creation of the Tetons, to the first humans, to the Native American tribes to the journey of John Colber, who back in 1807 is said to have been the first white man to have found his way through the wildnerness and into Jackson Hole. A remarkable cast of characters including mountain men, trappers, former slaves, a Mormon boy, an inter-racial marriage, and others fill these pages of pioneers.
