pony express to the rescue
TRANSCRIPT
7/29/2019 Pony Express to the Rescue
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by Cameron Cook illustrated by Bob Dellinger
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ISBN 0-15-323152-1
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by Cameron Cook
illustrated by Bob Dellinger
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www.harcourtschool.com
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Like many other farmers and ranchers,
the Bede family had come to town to
watch a special event. Soon they saw a
cloud of dust and heard hoofbeats. Then
the Pony Express rider dashed into town!Everyone cheered. The mail he was
carrying had come to California all the way
from St. Joseph, Missouri. It had not taken
months, as it always had before. It had
taken only a little more than a week!
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“It’s the start of a new time,” Mr. Bede
said to his wife, Cora, and their daughterMartha. Then they rode back to their
ranch.
The Bede family raised cows. Their
ranch did not make a huge profit. Even so,
Mr. Bede often said he would rather be a
rancher than do any other job.
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“Tell me more about the Pony Express,”Martha said to her father when they got
home. She was his oldest daughter. They
were out in the fields, tending the herd.
Together they were looking for stray cows
to put back in the corral. From there, the
cows would go to market.
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“The Pony Express hires young men,”
Mr. Bede said. “They must be strong and
ride a horse very well. Most importantly,
they must be brave. The trail across the
country is not always easy. They never
know what the weather will be like. These
riders must be very light, too. That way,
the horse can run quickly when carrying
both the mail and the rider.”
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“The riders change horses every 15
miles. Then, after about 75 miles, a new
rider takes over. To think that mail can
travel so far so quickly! The Pony Express
comes all the way from Missouri here to
Sacramento, California.
“It costs a lot of money to send a letter
by Pony Express. But if you ever need to
send something quickly, this will be thebest way to do it.”
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The next day, Mr. Bede called to his wife.
“Cora? Have you seen my medicine?”
Mrs. Bede came in. “No, Charles. Did youlook in our medicine chest?” she asked.
“It’s not in there!” Mr. Bede said. He
sounded scared. They looked everywhere,
but the medicine was missing. Martha knew
that meant trouble. Her father had a serioushealth condition. If he didn’t take his
medicine, he would become very sick.
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“What will I do?” Mr. Bede cried. He put
his head in his hands.
Then Martha spoke up. “What about the
Pony Express, Papa?” she asked. Her
father looked up.
“That might work,” he said with a nod. A
Pony Express rider was due in the next
day. He could send a message with him.
The medicine could return on the next trip.
“It will cost a lot of money,” Mr. Bede said.
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“Oh, Charles, don’t even think of that!”
Mrs. Bede said. She set out to town to give
the message to the Pony Express.The next day, the Pony Express rider
arrived at the station. “There is a very
important letter in there,” the postmaster
told him. “A rancher needs his medicine.
Take care!”The rider was off, heading east toward
Missouri. Many days of rain had turned the
trails into mud. In the first 20 miles, the
rider changed horses three times!
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Soon the trail got even worse. It was
steep and slippery. Rain kept falling. The
horse slipped several times.
Then the rain turned to sleet. The next
time the horse slipped, it fell. The rider was
thrown to the ground. However, he got up
and made it to the next station. There he
got a fresh horse.
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The rider covered 60 miles in the rain
and sleet before another rider took over.
As that rider crossed the Sierra Nevada
Mountains, he had to make his way
through huge snowdrifts. The route was
steep. Slowly, the horse and rider inched
ahead against the harsh wind.
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The third rider had to ride through the
desert. The weather was hot, and he was
thirsty. The horse kicked up sand as it ran
east toward Missouri.
The rider waved his hat as he sped past a
wagon train. The people on the wagon train
looked on in wonder. Who was that rider?He seemed to have come from nowhere!
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The last rider ended the trip in St.
Joseph, Missouri. A doctor there got the
letter that day. Quickly, he counted out
pills for Mr. Bede and put them in a box.
He gave the box to the Pony Express rider
who was heading back west. “Take care!”
the doctor told him. “That medicine may
save a rancher’s life!”
“You bet, Doctor,” the rider said as hetipped his hat.
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Back at the Bede ranch, the family
waited. Mr. Bede was feeling sicker and
sicker. He stayed in bed. But the work of theranch had to go on just the same.
Animals still had to be fed. Stray cows
still had to be put in the corral. Martha and
her sisters spent their time tending the herd.
It was hard to work when they were soworried about their father. When would the
Pony Express come?
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The Pony Express riders were heading
west toward California as fast as they
could. The first one handed off the mailbag
to the next with the medicine safe inside.
That rider raced across the windyNebraska prairie. The third rider carried the
mail through a snowstorm. The next rider
rode through sleet in Utah.
After a week, the Bedes got word that
the medicine was in town. The PonyExpress had come through!
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Mrs. Bede raced to town and came back
with the precious box of medicine. She
raised her husband’s head and gave him a
tablet.
In a few days, Mr. Bede was feeling
better. Forever after, he would tell the story
of what happened. “Yes, indeed!” he would
say to all the ranchers. “I owe my life to
the Pony Express.”
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1What is the problem in this story? How is it
solved?
2What is the main idea of this story?
3What details show that the riders’ journey
was difficult?
4Why do you think the Pony Express was
created?
5What other ways might people have
communicated long ago?
6Do you think you would have liked being a
Pony Express rider? Why or why not?
Mural As a class, draw a mural showing
the Pony Express journey. Show the different
landscapes a rider might pass through, as wellas the different types of weather he might see.
Think and Respond
School-Home Connection Share this story
with a family member. Then write and mail a
letter to someone you know.