:34:17
Even while North and South were being
torn apart...
:34:21
... East and West had been
drawn together by the Pony Express...
:34:25
... the most daring mail route in history.
:34:27
Eighty riders were in the saddle
at all times, night and day, in all weather.
:34:31
Half of them riding east, half riding west...
:34:34
... between Missouri and Sacramento...
:34:36
... carrying mail cross-country
in days instead of months.
:34:40
Unarmed, they rode to save weight.
:34:43
Five dollars a letter, the mail cost,
and on thin paper, too.
:34:46
It was courage, skill and speed...
:34:49
... against hostile Indians, bandits,
hell and occasional high water.
:34:55
Even as they rode,
men were already building a faster...
:34:59
... message carrier across the country,
the Overland Telegraph.
:35:02
And the Indians found a new amusement...
:35:05
... listening to the level tune
of the singing wires.
:35:08
But far less amusing to the Indians...
:35:10
... was the coming of the steel roadway
of the Iron Horse.
:35:14
The surveyors" route lay through immense
natural barriers, the Rocky Mountains...
:35:20
... and the equally discouraging
High Sierras.
:35:24
But range upon range could never stop
the titanic contest...
:35:27
... between two corporate giants
racing to put down...
:35:30
... the greatest mileage of track
before they met:
:35:33
The Central Pacific eastward
from Sacramento through the Sierras.
:35:42
And the Union Pacific,
forging westward across the plains...
:35:46
... with the Rockies still to come.
:35:48
The prize in the race was free land,
vast parcels for every mile of track laid.
:35:53
Land that would one day be worth millions.