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Details
The Story of the Pony Express: An Account of the Most Remarkable Mail Service Ever in Existence, and Its Place in History
Author: Glenn D. Bradley
Narrator: Bobbie Frohman
Unabridged: 2 hr 51 min
Format: Digital Audiobook
Publisher: Findaway
Published: 01/01/2012
Genre: Young Adult Nonfiction - History - United States - Civil War Period (1850-1877)
Synopsis
The Pony Express was a fast mail service which only lasted from April 3, 1860 to October 1861. It was a crucial communication link from the end of the telegraph lines in the east to Sacramento, California.
A series of relay stations were established with fresh horses so the rider could get fresh mounts all along the route. The riders just changed mounts and went as fast as possible...rarely stopping their daredevil rides even to sleep and eat.
It took immense courage and perseverance on the part of the riders and the relay station personnel and took about 10 days through rough terrain, Indian massacres, ambushes, and weather conditions over the Sierra that were brutal, to get a message through.
It was established at a critical time when communication from Washington D.C. and Sacramento helped with the establishment of California as a free state (vs. a slave state) and helped the Union factions strengthen just prior to the Civil War.