Riders of the Pony Express

by Moody, Ralph

• ISBN13: 9780803283053
• ISBN10: 0803283059
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-09-01
• Publisher: Bison Books

Summary

Prior to the Civil War, the fastest mail between the West Coast and the East took almost thirty days by stagecoach along a southern route through Texas. Some Californians feared their state would not remain in the Union, separated so far from the free states.Then businessman William Russell invested in a way to deliver mail between San Francisco and the farthest western railroad, in Saint Joseph, Missouri-across two thousand miles of mountains, deserts, and plains-guaranteed in ten days or less. Russell hired eighty of the best and bravest riders, bought four hundred of the fastest and hardiest horses, and built relay stations along a central route--through modern-day Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada, to California.Informed by his intimate knowledge of horses and Western geography, Ralph Moody's exciting account of the eighteen critical months that the Pony Express operated between April 1860 and October 1861 pays tribute to the true grit and determination of the riders and horses of the Pony Express.Ralph Moody (1898-1982) is the author of Come on Seabicuit! as well as the Little Britches series about a boy's life on a Colorado ranch, all available in Bison Books editions.

Author Biography

Ralph Moody (1898–1982) is the author of Come on Seabicuit! as well as the Little Britches series about a boy's life on a Colorado ranch, all available in Bison Books editions.

Table of Contents

1 To Save the Golden State	13	(11)
2 Johnny Frey, the First Rider	24	(9)
3 The First Rider Eastward	33	(9)
4 The Midwest Riders	42	(7)
5 Over the Hump with Boston	49	(17)
6 Pony Bob	66	(7)
7 The Prairie Riders	73	(14)
8 The Ambush Trail	87	(10)
9 The Foothill Riders	97	(12)
10 Mormon Riders of the Desert	109	(9)
11 The Rocky Mountain Riders	118	(13)
12 The Mormon Riders of Utah	131	(13)
13 The Test of Manhood	144	(10)
14 Guard It with Your Life	154	(5)
15 The Greatest Pony Rider	159	(11)
16 The Greatest Pony Ride	170	(11)
Index	181