Young Pony Express Rider

This is a new release of the original 1955 edition.

It's 1860, and a new mail service from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, is starting up. Riders will have to cope with long hours in the saddle, floods, snow, outlaws, and even a brief war with Native Americans. Have you got what it takes? Does being a Ninja Warrior or a Pony Express Rider sound fun and exciting to you? Get ready to discover the not-so-pretty truth! In this lively series, YOU are the main character in some of history's goriest, darkest, and most horrific moments. Hilarious illustrations, captions, and sidebars leave no doubt that you simply wouldn't want to be there.

In graphic novel format, tells the story of the building, running, and closing of the Pony Express mail delivery system.

Pony Bob had traveled more than a hundred miles. Exhausted, he still kept moving. As a Pony Express rider, he had mail to deliver. Suddenly, he heard yelling. A group of Paiute warriors were chasing him. Bullets whizzed past him. One bullet struck his shoulder; another grazed his cheek, but Pony Bob never stopped until he reached his destination. Although the Pony Express Company didn't last long, their young riders left behind a legacy of bravery. Traveling on horseback, the Pony Express brought mail from Missouri to California.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

“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.