November 27, 2024 • 10 mins
This bonus episode is peak into the audiobook version of the official Cabinet of Curiosities book
Order the official Cabinet of Curiosities book by clicking here today, and get ready to enjoy some curious reading!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, folks, erin here. I'm thrilled to bring to your
ears a bonus episode from my newest audiobook, Cabinets of Curiosities.
This audiobook isn't just a treasure trove of stories from
the podcast though which many of you have a joined,
but it also includes new tales never before shared. Plus,
the audiobook also features an exclusive series of conversations between
(00:22):
me and fellow history podcaster and author Dana Schwartz from
the show Noble Blood. In our conversations, we dive deep
into the process of researching and crafting these stories, share
our own personal perspectives on storytelling, and discuss why certain
stories from the Cabinets of Curiosities stand out to us.
To what your appetite for the full audiobook experience. I'm
(00:44):
pleased to share a preview of one of the stories,
along with a bit of our behind the scenes discussion
right now, so kick back and enjoy up. Its legacy
is as American as baseball and apple pie. Its writers
(01:07):
were fast, famous, and fearless. It has been the subject
of over a dozen films and television shows, and it
became the foundation of one of the largest banks in
the world. When it came to speed and reliability. In
the eighteen sixties, you couldn't beat the Pony Express. As
California began to boom from the Gold Rush, business owners
(01:30):
and settlers needed a faster way to communicate with folks
farther east. At the time, letters and packages took roughly
twenty five days to travel by stagecoach, even longer if
going by ship. The Pony Express more than half that time,
with an average delivery window of about ten days. Not
(01:50):
everyone used the Pony Express, though it was really expensive
for the average person to send a letter at five
dollars per half ounce of mail. The service was primarily
used as a delivery method for newspapers, business correspondents, and
government bulletins. Gold Rush hopefuls just couldn't afford the speedy service,
(02:10):
and speedy it was. Ten days may have been the
average time it took to deliver a letter, but it
certainly wasn't the fastest. That record belonged to Robert Haslam.
He earned the nickname Pony Bob for a very good reason.
He was responsible for the fastest delivery in Pony Express history.
Bob had come to the United States from England as
(02:32):
a teenager, just as the Pony Express was getting up
and running. He'd gotten his start by building depot stations,
but was soon given a route of his own from
Lake Tahoe to Buckland Station, a seventy five mile stretch
of Nevada Territory all his own. In May of eighteen sixty,
with his deliveries in tow, Bob traveled on horseback from
(02:54):
San Francisco to Buckland Station, where he got a taste
of a growing war. Civil war, mind you, but one
that must have seemed equally as terrifying. The Pyramid Lake
Indian War had found its way to Buckland Station in
a bad way. The relief rider who was supposed to
carry Bob's mail east to Smith's Creek was too scared
(03:14):
to ride due to the growing Native American threat. Bob
couldn't let the letters he'd been carrying go undelivered. He
had a decision to make and quick, or his trip
would have been for nothing. So he mounted up and
kept going one hundred and ninety miles on horseback in
just under nine hours without rest, and he made it.
(03:38):
Bob slept all night before traveling back to Buckland Station
the next day. Once he reached the depot at Cold Springs,
he noticed the war had finally arrived. The station keeper
had been killed, and everything inside had been taken. There
was no time to stop. The longer he lingered, the
more danger he was putting himself in, so he just
(03:58):
kept going. Three hundred and eighty miles later, pony Bob
had done it. He'd completed the longest round trip on
record for the Pony Express in less than two days.
Bob Haslam rode for the Pony Express for months following
his record breaking journey, but the most important ride of
his life was still yet to come. In April of
(04:20):
eighteen sixty one, a very special delivery had to get
from Fort Kearney in the Nebraska Territory all the way
to Placerville, California. If it didn't make it, the fate
of the entire country might be at risk, and only
one rider was fit to carry such precious cargo, pony
Bob himself. He picked up the bundle, tucked it into
(04:42):
his saddle bag, and rode for one hundred twenty miles.
His route took him through Pyute, Indian Territory, and as
he traveled, he encountered a handful of braves who didn't
take kindly to him trespassing on their land. One of
their arrows found its way into his arm, while another
flew straight into his job, knocking out several of his teeth.
(05:02):
The attack didn't deter him, though, and his horse galloped
faster until they were out of danger. He made it
to California in just eight hours and twenty minutes and
then delivered his package. You see, that precious cargo he'd
been carrying had been Abraham Lincoln's inaugural address, which was
to be telegraphed to Sacramento for publication up and down
(05:23):
the West coast. And if Bob hadn't made it in time,
California might have chosen to side with the Confederacy at
the start of the Civil War. What's most interesting about
the Pony Express isn't the roster of riders like Pony
Bob Haslam or Buffalo Bill Cody, nor the blistering speed
with which mail was delivered across the country. It wasn't
(05:46):
even the dangerous conditions its riders faced, like mounting threats
from the Native Americans or the harsh weather. No, it's
that this company, which has such an enduring legacy as
an icon of American industry existed for only eighteen months.
(06:07):
I hope you've enjoyed this first gallery in our exhibit
of Curiosities. I've loved revisiting each of these wonders, but
no curator works alone. So I've invited my friend and
fellow story steward, Dana Schwartz, to join us for some
special bonus conversations after each category in the collection. Welcome Dana.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Thank you so much for having me here. And it
is so much fun a to explore at these treasures
and also just to be chatting with you. I am
so excited to discuss some of my favorites with you.
So want to start with Pony Up.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Absolutely, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Okay, So something like the Pony Express, which has such
an enduring legacy in America. I feel like this outsize
like pop culture effect. It's insane to discover that it was,
in fact so short lived. In your research, do you
often find certain events or characters that have left disproportionate footprints.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah, it's very common. I feel like so many of
the stories that are part of the Cabinet of Curiosities
are They're the kind of tales that hinge on a
snap decision or a chance encounter, you know, something that's
it's seconds long. It's just it took somebody a heartbeat
to think I'm going to go this direction instead of
that direction. And those kind of choices often change history.
(07:26):
They certainly change the lives of the people who are
making them. But so many of the stories that we
tell often come down to those little, insignificant moments, and
I think that's what gives them power. It shows that
for this brief moment in time, anybody can be historically significant,
which I love.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
What is it about the Pony Express specifically that you
think captured the American imagination?
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Well, you know, I think that we've got this Western
mythology at play. People jump on horseback and they ride
around and the you know, the wilderness, the why open
expanse of the West of America, and it feeds into
that romanticism a lot. Also, there's just the utility of it,
and there's a human endurance element to it as well,
like the fact that they rode so far and so
(08:13):
fast it boggles the mind. And again it was only
in existence for such a short time that yet in
our mind we think it was this long standing, ongoing tradition.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yeah, the way that information travels has changed pretty drastically
since the days of the Pony express. Since you study
folklore and history and stories that have traveled over time,
does the way that information travels influence the way that
you think about stories in this book?
Speaker 1 (08:44):
It does. You know, I don't know how you work
for your show, but I tend to see the older
the story, the more caution I have to take in
the relay of detail and information. You know, it's the
telephone game, right, It's the game we all grew up
playing with spur a phrase into somebody's ear, and then
they turn to the next person and the next person,
and by the time you get to the end of
(09:04):
the chain, you see that it's altered in some way.
And you know, the older stories have that element that
time and distance from the origin point have altered the
tail a little bit, so you have to go on
with a bit of caution, a little skepticism. Of course,
modern technology today has sort of eliminated that, and there
(09:25):
are some cultures that were a lot more like paper
record oriented than other cultures as well, and that comes
into play. But yeah, it's we live in a very
evolving world of information transportation.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
But luckily today we never have to deal with the
problem of misinformation.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
No, no, it never happens at all. And there you go.
Thanks so much for tuning in and letting me share
that with you. If you're eager to hear the full
Cabinet of Curiosities audiobook, it's available on leading platforms like Audible,
Apple Books, and wherever else audiobooks are found. Thanks for
(10:07):
helping make this book launch a big success and for
letting me tell you these stories. And until next time,
stay curious.
Hey, folks, erin here. I'm thrilled to bring to your
ears a bonus episode from my newest audiobook, Cabinets of Curiosities.
This audiobook isn't just a treasure trove of stories from
the podcast though which many of you have a joined,
but it also includes new tales never before shared. Plus,
the audiobook also features an exclusive series of conversations between
(00:22):
me and fellow history podcaster and author Dana Schwartz from
the show Noble Blood. In our conversations, we dive deep
into the process of researching and crafting these stories, share
our own personal perspectives on storytelling, and discuss why certain
stories from the Cabinets of Curiosities stand out to us.
To what your appetite for the full audiobook experience. I'm
(00:44):
pleased to share a preview of one of the stories,
along with a bit of our behind the scenes discussion
right now, so kick back and enjoy up. Its legacy
is as American as baseball and apple pie. Its writers
(01:07):
were fast, famous, and fearless. It has been the subject
of over a dozen films and television shows, and it
became the foundation of one of the largest banks in
the world. When it came to speed and reliability. In
the eighteen sixties, you couldn't beat the Pony Express. As
California began to boom from the Gold Rush, business owners
(01:30):
and settlers needed a faster way to communicate with folks
farther east. At the time, letters and packages took roughly
twenty five days to travel by stagecoach, even longer if
going by ship. The Pony Express more than half that time,
with an average delivery window of about ten days. Not
(01:50):
everyone used the Pony Express, though it was really expensive
for the average person to send a letter at five
dollars per half ounce of mail. The service was primarily
used as a delivery method for newspapers, business correspondents, and
government bulletins. Gold Rush hopefuls just couldn't afford the speedy service,
(02:10):
and speedy it was. Ten days may have been the
average time it took to deliver a letter, but it
certainly wasn't the fastest. That record belonged to Robert Haslam.
He earned the nickname Pony Bob for a very good reason.
He was responsible for the fastest delivery in Pony Express history.
Bob had come to the United States from England as
(02:32):
a teenager, just as the Pony Express was getting up
and running. He'd gotten his start by building depot stations,
but was soon given a route of his own from
Lake Tahoe to Buckland Station, a seventy five mile stretch
of Nevada Territory all his own. In May of eighteen sixty,
with his deliveries in tow, Bob traveled on horseback from
(02:54):
San Francisco to Buckland Station, where he got a taste
of a growing war. Civil war, mind you, but one
that must have seemed equally as terrifying. The Pyramid Lake
Indian War had found its way to Buckland Station in
a bad way. The relief rider who was supposed to
carry Bob's mail east to Smith's Creek was too scared
(03:14):
to ride due to the growing Native American threat. Bob
couldn't let the letters he'd been carrying go undelivered. He
had a decision to make and quick, or his trip
would have been for nothing. So he mounted up and
kept going one hundred and ninety miles on horseback in
just under nine hours without rest, and he made it.
(03:38):
Bob slept all night before traveling back to Buckland Station
the next day. Once he reached the depot at Cold Springs,
he noticed the war had finally arrived. The station keeper
had been killed, and everything inside had been taken. There
was no time to stop. The longer he lingered, the
more danger he was putting himself in, so he just
(03:58):
kept going. Three hundred and eighty miles later, pony Bob
had done it. He'd completed the longest round trip on
record for the Pony Express in less than two days.
Bob Haslam rode for the Pony Express for months following
his record breaking journey, but the most important ride of
his life was still yet to come. In April of
(04:20):
eighteen sixty one, a very special delivery had to get
from Fort Kearney in the Nebraska Territory all the way
to Placerville, California. If it didn't make it, the fate
of the entire country might be at risk, and only
one rider was fit to carry such precious cargo, pony
Bob himself. He picked up the bundle, tucked it into
(04:42):
his saddle bag, and rode for one hundred twenty miles.
His route took him through Pyute, Indian Territory, and as
he traveled, he encountered a handful of braves who didn't
take kindly to him trespassing on their land. One of
their arrows found its way into his arm, while another
flew straight into his job, knocking out several of his teeth.
(05:02):
The attack didn't deter him, though, and his horse galloped
faster until they were out of danger. He made it
to California in just eight hours and twenty minutes and
then delivered his package. You see, that precious cargo he'd
been carrying had been Abraham Lincoln's inaugural address, which was
to be telegraphed to Sacramento for publication up and down
(05:23):
the West coast. And if Bob hadn't made it in time,
California might have chosen to side with the Confederacy at
the start of the Civil War. What's most interesting about
the Pony Express isn't the roster of riders like Pony
Bob Haslam or Buffalo Bill Cody, nor the blistering speed
with which mail was delivered across the country. It wasn't
(05:46):
even the dangerous conditions its riders faced, like mounting threats
from the Native Americans or the harsh weather. No, it's
that this company, which has such an enduring legacy as
an icon of American industry existed for only eighteen months.
(06:07):
I hope you've enjoyed this first gallery in our exhibit
of Curiosities. I've loved revisiting each of these wonders, but
no curator works alone. So I've invited my friend and
fellow story steward, Dana Schwartz, to join us for some
special bonus conversations after each category in the collection. Welcome Dana.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Thank you so much for having me here. And it
is so much fun a to explore at these treasures
and also just to be chatting with you. I am
so excited to discuss some of my favorites with you.
So want to start with Pony Up.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Absolutely, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Okay, So something like the Pony Express, which has such
an enduring legacy in America. I feel like this outsize
like pop culture effect. It's insane to discover that it was,
in fact so short lived. In your research, do you
often find certain events or characters that have left disproportionate footprints.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yeah, it's very common. I feel like so many of
the stories that are part of the Cabinet of Curiosities
are They're the kind of tales that hinge on a
snap decision or a chance encounter, you know, something that's
it's seconds long. It's just it took somebody a heartbeat
to think I'm going to go this direction instead of
that direction. And those kind of choices often change history.
(07:26):
They certainly change the lives of the people who are
making them. But so many of the stories that we
tell often come down to those little, insignificant moments, and
I think that's what gives them power. It shows that
for this brief moment in time, anybody can be historically significant,
which I love.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
What is it about the Pony Express specifically that you
think captured the American imagination?
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Well, you know, I think that we've got this Western
mythology at play. People jump on horseback and they ride
around and the you know, the wilderness, the why open
expanse of the West of America, and it feeds into
that romanticism a lot. Also, there's just the utility of it,
and there's a human endurance element to it as well,
like the fact that they rode so far and so
(08:13):
fast it boggles the mind. And again it was only
in existence for such a short time that yet in
our mind we think it was this long standing, ongoing tradition.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yeah, the way that information travels has changed pretty drastically
since the days of the Pony express. Since you study
folklore and history and stories that have traveled over time,
does the way that information travels influence the way that
you think about stories in this book?
Speaker 1 (08:44):
It does. You know, I don't know how you work
for your show, but I tend to see the older
the story, the more caution I have to take in
the relay of detail and information. You know, it's the
telephone game, right, It's the game we all grew up
playing with spur a phrase into somebody's ear, and then
they turn to the next person and the next person,
and by the time you get to the end of
(09:04):
the chain, you see that it's altered in some way.
And you know, the older stories have that element that
time and distance from the origin point have altered the
tail a little bit, so you have to go on
with a bit of caution, a little skepticism. Of course,
modern technology today has sort of eliminated that, and there
(09:25):
are some cultures that were a lot more like paper
record oriented than other cultures as well, and that comes
into play. But yeah, it's we live in a very
evolving world of information transportation.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
But luckily today we never have to deal with the
problem of misinformation.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
No, no, it never happens at all. And there you go.
Thanks so much for tuning in and letting me share
that with you. If you're eager to hear the full
Cabinet of Curiosities audiobook, it's available on leading platforms like Audible,
Apple Books, and wherever else audiobooks are found. Thanks for
(10:07):
helping make this book launch a big success and for
letting me tell you these stories. And until next time,
stay curious.