The Story of the Pony Express. By Glen D. Bradley. (Chicago, A. C. McClurg & Co. 1913. Pp. 175. $.75.)
The Pony Express was an incidental enterprise of importance in the attempts to establish rapid communication between the Missouri River and the Pacific Coast during the early sixties. Before the middle of the nineteenth century explorers and traders in the far West had established three great thoroughfares across the continent. These were the Santa Fe, the Salt Lake, and the Oregon trails. The Mormon settlement of Utah and the discovery of gold in California led to the establishment of mail routes across the country. In spite of governmental subsidies, the difficulties occasioned by the Indians, the severe weather, especially in the mountains, irregular highways and absence of bridges made communication particularly difficult and uncertain. Railroads and telegraph lines were being pushed east and west, but had not connected when the Civil War approached, and with it grave fears lest California be lost to the Union. Rapid communication was essential and into this gap was pushed the Pony Express, a thoroughly organized system of riders who carried the mails on horseback between stations maintained along the route. For sixteen months the daring men identified with this work with unsurpassed courage and unflinching endurance kept the two sections in communication with each other until, in October, 1861, telegraph wires took the place of flesh and blood as means of communication, and the Pony Express passed into history, and California was saved to the Union. The Pony Express failed in a financial way to reimburse its organizers, but it served the country well and gave another opportunity for the exercise of "man-defying American pluck and determination—qualities that have always characterized the winning of the West." Mr. Bradley's theme has much in it of romance and heroism and he has lost none of it in the telling.
Edward McMahon.
The Coming Canada. (The World Today Series.) By Joseph King Goodrich. Sometime Professor in the Imperial Government College, Kyoto. (Chicago, A. C. McClurg & Co. 1913. Pp. VIII, 309. $1.50 net.)
This book was written not for the specialist in history or political science, but for the general reader, and should be judged from that standpoint. It is largely a compilation from satisfactory authorities, but the author relies upon direct knowledge gained by travel during the past twenty-five years and he has also received suggestions and statistics from the various departmental authorities at Ottawa. The book has no independent historical value, but forms a good guide for the general reader and is well worth perusal by one who is contemplating a Canadian tour or desires a bird's view of present conditions. The range of topics is broad, covering, with the exception of present party politics and problems of racial and religious assimilation, all subjects of major interest.
One excellent chapter is devoted to sources of Canadian wealth; according to the view of the author, the greatness of The Coming Canada is founded upon agricultural products, live stock and kindred industries, rather than upon its mineral wealth. This seems to be the keynote of the book. Subjects worthy of especial mention are governmental policies for internal development, including the homestead laws; railway, past, present and future; and brief discussions of the social and economic relations of Canada and the United States. The description of local and central institutions of government is adequate for the purposes of the general reader.
The historical introduction, comprising the first quarter of the book, is the least satisfactory. It has no independent historical value and the facts may be obtained elsewhere in briefer and more satisfactory shape. The notices, however, of official processes by which the present boundaries of the Dominion were attained, are adequate.
The forty illustrations from photographs add greatly to the attractiveness of the volume; but the reviewer regrets that at least one of them could not have been replaced by a good map.
Oliver H. Richardson.