A thrilling and truthful history of the pony express; or, Blazing the westward way, and other sketches and incidents of those stirring times . ^ letter transportedacross the continent. Their bulkwas not in the least commensurablewith their number; there were hun-dreds of them sometimes, for theywere written on the thinnest tissuepaper to be procured. There wereno silly love missives among them norfrivolous correspondence of any kind;business letters only that demandedthe most rapid transit possible andwarranted the immense expense at-tending their journey found their wayby the Pony Express. Th
A thrilling and truthful history of the pony express; or, Blazing the westward way, and other sketches and incidents of those stirring times . ^ letter transportedacross the continent. Their bulkwas not in the least commensurablewith their number; there were hun-dreds of them sometimes, for theywere written on the thinnest tissuepaper to be procured. There wereno silly love missives among them norfrivolous correspondence of any kind;business letters only that demandedthe most rapid transit possible andwarranted the immense expense at-tending their journey found their wayby the Pony Express. The mail-bags were two pouches ofleather, impervious to rain, sealed, and. Brigham Young 21 28 BLAZIXG THE WESTWARD WAY strapped to the riders saddle beforeand behind. The pouches were neverto contain over twenty pounds inweight. Inside the pouches, to fur-ther protect their contents from theweather, the letters and despatcheswere wrapped in oil silk, then pockets themselves were locked,and were not opened between and Sacramento. The Pony Express, as a means ofcommunication between the tworemote coasts, was largely employedby the Government, merchants, andtraders, and would eventually havebeen a paying venture had not theconstruction of the telegraph acrossthe continent usurped its usefulness. The arms of the Pony Expressrider, in order to keep the weight at aminimum, were, as a rule, limited torevolver and knife. The first trip from St. Joseph toSan Francisco, 1966 in exact miles,was made in ten days; the second, infourteen; the third, and many succeed-ing trips, in nine. The riders had adivision of from one hundred to onehundred forty
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectfrontierandpioneerli
