Porterville Union High School - El Granito Yearbook (Porterville, CA)

Page 8 text:

TO THE PON In dec1d1ng on a sultable 1nst1tut1on to whlch thls year book should be dedlcated the pomt was held 1n mlnd that the ldeals of the ob1ect of ded1 catlon should be comparable to the ldeals and 0bl9Ct1V9S of the sen1or class I am sure all of you w1ll agree that 1ndeed th1s goal has been attalned ln dedlcatmg the 1936 El Granlto to the sp1r1t of the Pony Express To more fully demonstrate the close assoc1at1on between the senlor class Ob16Ct1V9S and the Obl9Ct1V9S of the Pony Express, a more complete under standlng of the Pony Express lS necessary The dlscovery of gold 1n Callfornla heralded an amazmg m1grat1on of wealth seekers to the fabulous west Soon, however, dlscontent arose 1n Cahforma over the exceedmgly slow communlcatlon fac1l1t1es between the east and west Although the advent of the stage coach sllghtly allevlated these deplorable cond1t1ons, the methods of communlcatlon were st1ll vel y poor The tlme had come for faster commumcatlon between the east and the west, and there were those who thought of the Pony Express to carry letters and valuable packages from St Joseph MISSOUFI to Sacramento Cahfornla Although Magor George Chorpennlng 1n 1858 by havlng Presldent Buchanan s second message to Congress conveyed to Cahforma by a sys tem of r1de1s was actually the flrst man to 1naugurate a Pony Express, full cred1t 1S usually glven to the f1rm of Russell MaJors, and Waddell for establlshlng the flrst regular Pony Express system The equlpment necessary for the Pony Express was tremendous The carry1ng of the fast mall over barren plams and swollen rlvers and through dangerous mountam passes requlred four hundred and twenty selected horses the best money could buy, elghty p1cked and experlenced r1ders, four hundred statlon men, and one hundred and nlnety relay stat1ons Each horse was expected to cover ten mlles at top speed and somet1mes fur ther lf necessary When the Pony Express was at 1ts best the tr1p across the plalns was made ln ten to eleven days an average of two hundred mlles a day More hundred and flfty mlles a day Tales of the 1ntrep1d Pony Express rlders are numerous, but Mark Twam has most permanently enr1ched our llterature on the sub1ect ln Roughmg It the story of h1s stage coach travels ln the west In a httle whlle all lnterest was taken up IH stretchmg our necks and watch1ng for the pony rlder the fleet messenger who sped across the contment from St Joe to Sacramento carry1ng letters nmeteen hundred mlles 1n elght days' Thmk of that for perlshable horse and human flesh and blood to do' The pony r1der was usually a 11ttle blt of a man brlmful of Splflt and endurance No matter what t1me of the day or nlght h1s watch came on and no matter whether rt was wlnter or summer raxnmg snowlng ha111ng or sleetlng or whether h1S beat was a level stralght road or a crazy trall over mountaln crags and prec1p1ces or whether xt led through peaceful reglons or reglons that swarmed wlth host1le Indlans he must be always ready to leap lnto the saddle and be off llke the wmd He carrled no arms he carrled nothlng that was not absolutely necessary for even the postage of hxs llterary frelght was worth flve dollars a letter He got but httle frlvolous correspondence to carry h1s bag had busmess letters 1n It mostly Presently the drlver exclalms Here he comes' Every neck IS stretched further and every eye stramed wlder Away across the endless dead level of pralrle a black speck appears agalnst the sky and xt IS plam 2-a4,+ ' 7 ! 7 , . . 9 1 . , . v . than once, however, the trip was made in eight days-an average of two . . . . ,, . as ' ' ' ,H . . . . . ' . 4.4 'J Hg, Q.

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M. A vw W .,WfXEm El. GRANITC MAY 1936 POQTEQVILLE UNIGN I-HGH SCI-IGOI. f' -I- I + l!llK!l.JAL'zfv 5fllal1Ullf.1 J! !.jj.'T!L Il'l.!!L'. cdslfl. .'I'lll.4I

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P SS that It moves Well I should thlnk so' In a second or two xt becomes a horse and r1der I'1S1Dg and fall 1ng r1s1ng and falllng sweepmg toward us nearer and nearer growmg more and more d1st1nct more and more sharply def1ned nearer and stlll nearer and the flutter of the hoofs comes famtly to the ear another lnstant and a whoop and a hurrah from our upper deck a wave of the rlders hand but no reply and a man and horse burst past our exclted faces and go wmglng away 11ke a belated fragment of a storm' So sudden IS xt all and so llke a flash of unreal fancy that but for the flake of whlte foam left qu1ver1ng and perlshmg on a mall sack after the v1s1on had flashed by and dlsappeared we mlght have doubted whether we had seen any actual horse and man at all maybe The Pony Express, although deeply 1n debt m1ght eventually have been put on a paylng basls 1f the telegraph had not been lnvented and put 1nto use As It was, however, the telegraph greatly undermmed IIS usefulness and so, on October 7 1861 after slxteen months of SGFVICQ, the Pony Express was off1c1ally dlscontlnued Though extremely sholt hved as an 1nst1tut1on and unprofltable as a busmess venture the Pony Express has been descrlbed as the most lomantlc trans portatlon any cont1nent has ever known In th1s brlef resume of the hlstory and aCtlVlt16S of the Pony Express I have at tempted to clearly lllustrate those commend able qualltles such as fortltude, perslstence, and dependab1l1ty vxhlch were the chlef fac tors contrlbutmg to the brlef success of the Pony Expless, and whlch the sen1o1 class h1s exhlbted 1n IIS all too brlef passage through the Portervllle Un1on Hlgh School From out those years that every year grow stranger Brlghtest I thmk the fearless rlders gleam Who took then' part IH all that joyous danger To serve the human dream Who bore the mall by desert or by fountam Bravmg the savage and the tempest s wrath Across the plam across the mxdnxght mountam Takmg the lonely path The courage that was thelrs may t1me make stronger As now the new romance beglns lts reign And hlgh above the trall they take no longer Flashes the aeroplane' George Sterlmg +43 5 'l'+r . , . V . . . . - 1 V E W 1 W 1 - 1 1 1 1 1 H . . . 1 1 1 11 , . Y . ! ' 7 I c C . v 1 ' ' 7 7 I . K - 1 . U . . K . . H . 1 Y . . . Y Y . . - . . . ' l 2 U 1 1 1 1 1 H . . 1 - 1 1 1 1 U . . 1 1 11 . J M . -9 f'