READING TWO:
In this age of texts and tweets, it is easy to send messages. You just press a few buttons, and boom! Your message is sent. The person to whom you sent it will get it in just a few seconds. Distance is no longer an issue. But things weren't always so easy. In 1848 gold was found in California. Thousands of people rushed there to get some. Many people liked living there and decided to stay. But there wasn't a whole lot between California and Missouri, where the nearest trains ran. The train line to California wasn't finished until 1869. It took a long time to ride a horse to Missouri. Imagine that it is the year 1860. You have moved to California to open a shop. Most of your family stayed back East. Your shop is doing well and now you want to your family to join you. How do you get news to them? There's no phone, no train, and you can't leave your shop for too long. What do you do? Well, you could use the Pony Express.
Which happened first?
Settlers rushed to California to find gold.
The Pony Express was started
The train line to California was finished
The first telegraph line to California was finished.