Interview with A Pony Express Rider
Posted by Suchaita Tenneti on 2011-05-13
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Writing letters is fun although e-mail is quicker. Every country has interesting postal systems. One of the most fascinating is the Pony Express that was used in America in the 1860s. It used a unique way to deliver letters quickly! All Day Kids caught up with a Pony Express “rider”:
All Day Kids: What was the Pony Express?
Pony Express Rider: The Pony Express was not a train. We rode horses!
ADK: Oh! Was that difficult?
Rider: Yes, we had to travel across deserts and mountains in heat and rain to deliver the mail on horseback!
ADK: Aah! Wouldn’t your horse get tired?
Rider: Of course! That’s why the Pony Express had 400 horses and 157 stations where we had to change horses. So on every journey, we would change 10 horses!
ADK: Cool! And how would you cross water?
Rider: If the water was shallow, the horses would walk across. But if the water was deep then we would drop the horse off at the station, get onto a steamer or a big boat, and a new horse would be ready on the opposite bank!
ADK: Awesome! How long did it take you to deliver mail?
Rider: 10 days! Today it takes you at least 3 to 7 days, so we were pretty fast, weren’t we?
ADK: Of course! But why did the service end in just 18 months?
Rider(sad): We got replaced by the telegraph.
ADK: But it was a great service! And you are a hero!
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