Bronco Charlie

Relates how, in 1861, a boy named Charlie Miller became the youngest rider for the Pony Express, a mail service that linked the east and west coasts of the United States.

On a ranch in California . . . a boy dreams of becoming a pony express rider. California, early 1860s. Julius loves horses so much that he leaves his job as a sailor to work on a ranch. He is so good at taming horses that the other men at the ranch call him Bronco Charlie. He wants to become a pony express rider, but everyone tells him he’s too young. When a pony express horse gallops into town without its rider, Charlie volunteers to take his place. Can Charlie deliver the mail and prove his worth as a rider?

Have you ever had a hard time expressing your feelings and thoughts into words that truly convey your emotions, intentions, and love? Albert Einstein once said, "I very rarely think in words at all. A thought comes, and I may try to express in words afterward." Charlie Hungloe and Samantha "Sam" Sterling, who are two detectives that don't usually carry guns but instead use martial arts to fight and are the main characters in Charlie Hungloe's Greatest Challenge, have similar challenges. Charlie and Sam have at times had trouble expressing through their actions and with words what they really intend to say but rarely do. So why don't Charlie and Sam just say what they mean? Well, maybe they are! Growing relationships are built on more than just faith, trust, patience, physical needs, etc. Relationships often occur when different people are together with the same mind-set but different audio frequencies. When this happens, life can become chaotic, complex, frustrating, and often very, very comical! Like when Charlie gives Sam some instructions, and Sam follows the instructions but on a different thought frequency. Charlie Hungloe's Greatest Challenge is about a relationship that is sometimes set on two different frequencies. Charlie and Sam show us how to overcome the challenge. To overcome this challenge, you will read and feel Charlie's and Sam's heartbeating excitement, fears, love, and faith in each other. Also, how Charlie uses laughter and comedy to both hide and communicate his feelings for Sam. First Corinthians 13:1 says, "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." Angels do exist! And maybe, just maybe, sometimes they are sitting right beside you! Let's find out!

“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.

Charlie Siringo (1855-1928) lived the quintessential life of adventure on the American frontier as a cowboy, Pinkerton detective, writer, and later as a consultant for early western films. Siringo was one of the most attractive, bold, and original characters to live and flourish in the final decades of the Wild West. His love of the cattle business and of cowboy life were so great that in 1885 he published A Texas Cowboy, or Fifteen Years on the Hurricane Deck of a Spanish Pony--Taken From Real Life, which Will Rogers dubbed the "Cowboy's Bible." Howard R. Lamar's biography deftly shares Siringo's story within seventy-five pivotal years of western history. Siringo was not a mere observer but a participant in major historical events including the Coeur d'Alene mining strikes of the 1890s and Big Bill Haywood's trial in 1907. Lamar focuses on Siringo's youthful struggles to employ his abundant athleticism and ambitions and how Siringo's varied experiences helped develop the compelling national myth of the cowboy.

Learn about the main ranching communities found in Alberta and elsewhere in Western Canada. Study the lifestyle, the people and their work.

Meet "Bronco Charlie" - The Youngest Pony Express rider was "Bronco Charlie." He was only 11 years old when he rode for the Pony Express. He replaced a rider who had been attacked by Native Americans. Before the stationkeepers could stop him, Charlie was on his horse and riding off with the mail. He rode for the Pony Express for five months until it closed. Seventy years later, in 1931, Charlie rode his horse cross-country. He delivered mail from the mayor of New York City to the mayor of San Francisco. It took him seven months! He was 81 years old when he did it. He made the trip in honor of the 70th anniversary of the Pony Express. He is the only man ever to have ridden his horse cross-country alone to deliver the mail.