Day Two:

In groups, the students will create a poster (or a power point-presentation) that will focus on the specific topics they were assigned on Day One and that will respond to the questions. The students will explain their posters or power-point presentations to the entire class.

Closure/Discussion:

The teacher will lead a discussion of the successes and failures of the Pony Express and will write key points that emerge from the class discussion on the board.

Application:

Students will make a timeline showing the progression of technology for communication from the days of the Pony Express to the present. They will write a paragraph explaining the advantages of the most modern forms of communication.

Suggested Books:

Adams, Samuel Hopkins. The Pony Express. Chicago: Spencer Press, Inc., 1950.

Bailey, W.F. “The Pony Express.” Golden West: True Stories of the Old West.
Freeport, NY: Maverick Publications, Inc., Vol.1, No. 1, 1964.

Banning, Captain William, and George Hugh Banning. Six Horses. New York: Century Company, 1930.

Barrett, Ivan J. Eph Hanks -- Fearless Mormon Scout. American Fork, UT: Covenant Communications, Inc., 1990.

Beck, Warren A, and Ynez D. Haase. Historical Atlas of the American West. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992.

Benson, Joe. Traveller’s Guide to the Pony Express Trail. Falcon Press, 1995.

Biggs, Donald. “The Pony Express: Creation of a Legend.” San Francisco: privately printed document, 1956.

Bloss, Roy S. Pony Express: The Great Gamble. Berkeley: Howell-North, 1959.

Corbet, Christopher. Orphans Preferred: The Twisted Truth and Lasting Legend of the Pony Express. New York: Broadway Books, 2003.

Di Certo, Joseph. The Saga of the Pony Express. Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Publishing Company, 2002.

Settle, Raymond W., and Mary Lund Settle. The Story of the Pony Express. London: W. Foulsham & Co. Ltd., 1955.