Fifth Grade
Worksheets
Pony Express
Do you ever get emails? An email message is received very quickly. It doesn't matter if the message is from the house next door or if it's from halfway around the world. Emails are fast! Today many people call sending a paper letter through the mail system "snail mail." Snails move very slowly. Compared to emails, getting a letter through the mail system might seem slow. But it's not nearly as slow as it used to be!
In the 1840s, many people in the United States began to move west. Gold was found in California in 1848. The thought of getting rich quick and new land lured many pioneers to the West. People wanted news from their old homes. At that time, mail from the East could take many months to get across the country. There was a need for quicker service. Three men decided to start their own mail service.
They started the Pony Express. One end of the route was in St. Joseph, Missouri. The other end was in Sacramento, California. The route covered almost two thousand miles. The job was very dangerous. Only young men without families were hired as riders.
