Pony Express Wide Game

Background & Game Rules

The time is March 1860. The firm of Russels, Majors, and Waddell is looking for riders for their
Pony Express Route. You apply for the position but are turned down because you are a female
(how rude!). To prove to the firm that you can do it, you propose a contest to locate the fastest,
toughest, most qualified riders. Russels agrees to hire one team of female riders from those that
apply. The team that can deliver documents from St. Joseph, MO to Sacramento, CA in the
shortest time and overcome the obstacles they encounter will be offered that position.

Contest Rules (as organized for a specific facility)

  1. A maximum of 9 teams of girls under the age of 18 may enter the contest. Teams will consist of a minimum of 8 girls and a maximum of 10 girls under the age of 18. (i.e., each cabin will form a team except that Juniper and Aspen will combine to form a team)
  2. A maximum of 2 teams of persons 18 and older may be formed (12 maximum per team) (i.e., adults may divide themselves however they wish making sure the teams are equal.
  3. There will be 11 waystations along the route, all of which must be visited. To verify visitation,
    station master must sign the documentation.
  4. You may visit the waystations in any order. The first team to arrive at a station will be the first
    to complete that challenge. If you arrive second, you may choose to wait there until they finish
    or find another station to visit.
  5. The first team to return to Sacramento having visited all way stations and showing verification
    thereof, will win the competition and will be offered Pony Express Rider positions.
  6. Teamwork is the key. You must work together relying on each others’ skills to meet each new
    challenge.
  7. You have 10 minutes to organize your teams, come up with a team name, and decide where
    you will proceed first.

Good Luck!!

Way Stations

The following are the way stations and descriptions of the activity the complete. These names were actual Pony Express stations and we had an actual map of the Pony Express Route posted at the event.

Cottonwood Station
At 123 miles west of St. Joseph, MO, you arrive at Cottonwood Station and find a
distressed pioneer woman. Her goat has chewed her clothesline into pieces and she cannot
hang her laundry out. She asks for your help.

Challenge: You must find a way to fix her clothesline.
Hint: tie the short ropes together using square knots and then tie the then long
rope between two trees using clove hitches.


Willow Island
Located on the south bank of the Platte River, you find Willow Island. When the Station Master awoke this morning, he found his pet wolf missing. Unfortunately, he is not an expert tracker and he asks your help.

Challenge: Find the pet wolf.
Hint: Use animal identification book to identify wolf tracks then follow them to find wolf. Follow directions given to you at wolf

Julesburg
You arrive at the famous and hazardous Upper California Crossing of the South Platte River where you find Julesburg Station, named after Reni Jules, a French Canadian frontiersman. Captain Jack Slade has replaced Jules as the Division Agent and the station is in chaos. One of the locals has been robbed and in the process, his arm was broken. He asks your help.

Challenge: Apply splint and sling to broken arm until doctor arrives from next town.
Hint: Use flat piece of wood for sling and apply with bandannas. Use large bandanna for sling.

Courthouse Rock
Courthouse Rock, one of the most famous landmarks in the North Platte Valley, is easy to spot from the Way Station. The fact that the altitude has increased and the air has become thinner coupled with the greater intensity of the suns rays have, however, decreased the Station Master’s ability to judge distances accurately. He asks your help.

Challenge: Accurately judge the distance from the Way Station to Courthouse Rock.
Hint: Use the pacing guide to determine your pace, then walk from the way station to courthouse rock counting your paces to determine the distance. You must be within 1 foot of the correct answer to be signed off.

Devil’s Gate
According to Shoshone and Arapahoe legend, a powerful evil spirit in the form of a tremendous beast with enormous tusks ravaged the Sweetwater Valley, preventing the Indians from hunting and camping. The prophet informed the tribes that the Great Spirit required him to destroy the beast. They launched an attack from the mountain passes and ravines, shooting arrows into the evil mass. The enraged beast, with a mightly upward
thrust of its tusks, ripped a gap in the mountain and disappeared through Devil’s Gate, never to be seen again.

However, when you arrive at the way station, the Station Master insists he has seen the beast lurking nearby. He asks your help in killing it for good.

Challenge: Kill the beast.
Hint: Use bows and arrows and accumulate 15 points to kill the beast.

South Pass
Bounded on the North by the Wind River Range and on the South by the Antelope Hills and straddling the Continental Divide, you find South Pass. In order to correctly navigate through the pass you need to follow the bearings given to you by the Station Master.

Challenge: Navigate through the pass.
Hint: Follow the appropriate compass bearings by first setting your compass, then sighting on an object and walking forward. If you need help reading or using the compass, ask the Station Master for help.

Canyon Station
You arrive at Canyon Station only to find it burnt with no supplies available. You are hungry and decide to try to find indigenous plants with which to make a salad.

Challenge: Make a salad with edible rather than poisonous plants
Hint: Use hand reference book to identify plants.


Simpson Park
One of the original Pony Express Stations built this spring, Simpson Park was recently razed and attacked and is in the process of being rebuilt. Since no shelter is present and rain is imminent, you must improvise.

Challenge: Improvise a shelter to keep your team out of the weather.
Hint: Use tarps, ropes and other available items to make a temporary shelter.

Desert Station
You find it hot and dusty at Desert Station and are lucky enough to find the Station Master greet you with a cool drink and a small tidbit.

Challenge: Leave the station cleaner than you found it.
Hint: Deposit all trash in receptacle to get signed off


Sink of the Carson
The frame house inside the adobe structure at Sink of the Carson promised adequate protection from the elements. You arrive thirsty; however, and ask the Station Master for something to drink. You are told to fetch it yourself down at the lake. Since it is dark and hard to see, you ask directions and are told “Just follow the signs! You can’t miss it.”

Challenge: Get water from the lake and bring it back
Hint: Follow trail signs to obtain glass of water.

Strawberry
The first snows of the season have hit Strawberry Valley House near Echo Summit when you arrive. The Station is cold and is in need of a fire but the Station Master has hurt his back and cannot oblige.

Challenge: Build a fire and keep it going for 5 minutes.
Hint: Make sure you have the 3 elements of fire: air, heat, fuel and that you use kindling and tinder only.


Set Up and Prep Required at each Station

Cottonwood Station:

  1. Make sure you can teach clove hitch and square knot
  2. Deliver Supplies to station
  3. Post Station Sign in prominent place
  4. Post Help sheet
  5. Procedure: If teams need help with knots, teach the knots, otherwise let them use the help sheet. Check each knot to make sure it is tied properly before signing off the sheet.

Willow Island:

  1. Deliver Supplies to station
  2. Lay a trail from the station with the wolf tracks to a point out of view.
  3. Place “wolf” at end of tracks. Put sign up w/I found the wolf slips in it at wolf.
  4. Lay trails with other animals footprints to points out of view.
  5. Post Station Sign in prominent place 6. Procedure: show teams the beginning of the trail. Tell them to follow the tracks and follow any directions they find. (I.e., if they return with the “wolf”, they must return him to his proper place.)

Julesburg:

  1. Deliver supplies to station
  2. Post Station sign in prominent place
  3. Post Help sign(s)
  4. Procedure: Have teams pick one “victim” and they are to apply a rigid splint and sling. They may use the help sheets and may be coached as necessary. Sign off when complete and sling/splint are removed.

Courthouse Rock:

  1. Make sure you know how to measure your pace and how to explain it to someone.
  2. Deliver supplies to station
  3. Measure side of cabin at Station rounding to feet rather than inches (this is the
    base length we are using)
  4. Post Courthouse Rock Picture in view from the station at a distance of 2˝ times the length of the cabin. (i.e., if cabin is 15 feet long, post picture at 37˝ feet from cabin)
  5. Post Station Sign in prominent location.
  6. Procedure: instruct teams what a pace is. Tell them to count their paces along the side of the cabin you measured. Tell them that distance. Then ask them to find the distance to Courthouse Rock (you may have to go over how they figure out how far they went by asking them questions)

Devil’s Gate:

  1. Deliver supplies to station
  2. Post station sign in prominent location
  3. Set up archery range
  4. Procedure: Team must accumulate 15 points by alternately shooting arrow at targets (score 10 for bullseye and go out from there depending on targets obtained)

South Pass

  1. Make sure you know how to take a bearing and how to explain it to someone.
  2. Deliver supplies to station
  3. Plot a course through the “pass” (i.e., take several bearings in the area to determine a good route using at least 3 bearings to avoid all obstacles. Record these bearings (and distances if necessary)
  4. Post Station sign in prominent location
  5. Procedure: Ask team if they know how to use compass. If not, you must teach them how to hold, how to read a bearing, how to sight on an object. Then, given them their first bearing and distance (or # of steps). Give the next bearing and the next until they “make it through the pass”.

Canyon Station:

  1. Make sure you know which are the poisonous plants and which are edible.
  2. Deliver supplies to station
  3. Post Station sign in prominent location
  4. Procedure: Teams must decide what they want in their salad and place that corresponding card in the bowl. They must have a minimum of 5 plants in their salad and all must be edible for them to succeed.

Simpson Park:

  1. Deliver supplies to station
  2. Post station sign in prominent location
  3. Procedure: have teams come up with their own emergency shelter using the tarps and ropes. Anything that will protect the teams from the weather is okay.

Desert Station:

  1. Deliver supplies to station
  2. Post station sign in prominent location
  3. Procedure: Serve snack to teams as they arrive . Ask for papers as they arrive and sign and return papers to them when the area has been picked up after their snack.

Sink of the Carson:

  1. Deliver supplies to station
  2. Collect rocks and downed wood for trail signs
  3. Lay trail to the “lake” (bucket filled with water) which is out of sight from the station.
  4. Procedure: Give teams ladle - they must follow your trail signs to the “lake” and get a ladle full of water and return to complete this station (they may use the trail sign sheet as an aid).

Strawberry:

  1. Deliver supplies to station
  2. Gather kindling and tinder for making of 11 fires.
  3. Post station sign in prominent location
  4. Have water and shovel ready.
  5. Procedure: Remind participants to tie back long hair and remove dangly clothing. Participants are to lay a log cabin foundation then build a teepee frame inside and light fire. Fire needs to remain lit for 3 minutes then they must extinguish the fire properly (taking care not to use too much water

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