Spanish Peaks Library District

Describes the history of the Pony Express and the daring riders who risked their lives to deliver the mail.

Examines the lives of people who were involved with the Pony Express, from its origins in the spring of 1860 to its demise with the invention of the telegraph.

"Bestselling author Stephanie Grace Whitson's latest historical novel features an adventurous young heroine who joins the Pony Express. Orphaned Annie Paxton and her brothers may have lost the only home they've ever known, but they're determined to make a better future in St. Joseph, Missouri. Annie dreams of a pretty house with window boxes, and having friends, and attending church every week. But then her brothers spot the ad for a new venture called...

The author weaves together stories of the original riders with his own modernday traveling experience on the Pony Express Trail used in 1860 to discover the fabric of our nation's character.

195 PAGES ILLUS. LC 60-9982. MEMORIAL: BARNEY WHEELER

Discusses the eighteen month history, officially beginning April 3, 1860, of the mail delivery between Saint Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, known as the Pony Express.

"When word of the Pony Express being formed reached Clay Roswell in Texas, he decided to get a job as a rider. He was told his best chance for such a job was along the desert stretch in Nevada Territory, so that was where he headed. Along the trail, he met two brothers, Jess and Hoke Pickard, and agreed to team up with them, at least as far as Salt Lake. They made camp one night in Weber Cañon, east of Salt Lake, but as Roswell lay in his blankets,...

Twelve-year-old Colton, son of a black mother and a white father, takes a job with the Pony Express in 1860 after his father abandons the family on their California-bound wagon train, and risks his life to deliver an important letter that may affect the growing conflict between the North and South.