Worksheet

Fast News in the 1860s: Two Texts

Read two original texts about the Pony Express and the telegraph, then combine details from both to explain how news traveled in the 1860s.

Grade 4ELAInteractive · Printable

Aligned toRI.4.9

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Single worksheet
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1 Common Core standard
Printable answer key
9 questions
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Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 4
Subject: ELA
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Matching, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students combine information from two informational texts on the same topic.
Students tell which text gives each detail and which details both texts share.
Students write about the topic using details from both texts.

How to use

Read Text 1 and Text 2 one at a time and have students mark key details in each. Then let them answer the questions that use both texts.

Curriculum

Common Core standard covered

RI.4.9

Combine information from two texts on the same topic to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

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Fast News in the 1860s: Two Texts

Put together details from two texts about sending news west.

Read the two texts

Read both texts. They tell about the same time in history.

Text 1: Riders of the Pony Express

1In 1860, California was a long way from the big cities in the East. A letter sent by stagecoach or by ship could take weeks to arrive. People in California wanted news from the East to reach them faster. In April 1860, a new mail service called the Pony Express began.

2The Pony Express worked like a relay race. Its trail stretched from St. Joseph, Missouri, all the way to Sacramento, California. Along the trail were relay stations, small stops where fresh horses waited. A rider galloped to the next station, leaped onto a rested horse, and raced on. After many miles, he handed the mail to a new rider.

3Riders carried letters in a leather cover called a mochila. It fit over the saddle and had a pocket in each corner. Most riders were young and light, so their horses could run fast. They rode through deserts and mountains, in heat and in snow, by day and by night.

4With this system, a letter could cross the West in about ten days. That was much faster than before. However, sending a letter this way cost a lot of money. The Pony Express lasted only about a year and a half. In October 1861, it shut down for good.

Text 2: Messages on a Wire

1Before telephones were invented, people found a way to send messages over long distances very quickly. They used the telegraph. A telegraph is a machine that sends messages as pulses of electricity through metal wires.

2Telegraph operators used a code of short and long signals called dots and dashes. Each letter of the alphabet had its own pattern. The code was named Morse code after Samuel Morse, an inventor who helped create the telegraph. One operator tapped out a message on a key. Far away, another operator listened to the clicks and wrote down the words.

3By the 1850s, telegraph wires linked many cities in the eastern United States. But no line crossed the whole country, and people in California wanted faster news from the East. In 1861, workers began building a line to connect the East with California. They dug holes, raised tall wooden poles, and strung wire across plains and mountains. Crews worked from the east and from the west at the same time.

4In October 1861, the two ends of the line finally met. For the first time, a message could cross the country in just minutes.

Details from each text

Use the texts to answer each question.

What topic do both texts tell about?

A. how to train horses to run long races
B. how news crossed the country in the 1860s
C. how inventors made the first telephone
D. what life was like in early California towns

Match each word from the texts to its meaning.

mochila
relay station
Morse code
telegraph

A. a machine that sends messages through wires
B. a leather mail cover that fits over a saddle
C. a stop where fresh horses waited
D. a code of short and long signals

Which text gives each detail? Sort the details.

Operators tapped out messages using dots and dashes.Riders carried letters in a leather mochila.People in California wanted faster news from the East.Fresh horses waited at stations along the trail.Workers raised tall wooden poles across the West.Something important happened in October 1861.

Text 1 only	Text 2 only	Both texts

Write the missing number and word. Use Text 1 for the first blank and Text 2 for the second blank.

By Pony Express, a letter could cross the West in about days. By telegraph, a message could cross the country in just .

Put the texts together

Use details from both texts to answer each question.

Text 1 tells when the Pony Express shut down. Text 2 tells when the telegraph line across the country was finished. What do the two texts together suggest?

A. The Pony Express ended because its horses grew too tired.
B. Pony Express riders helped build the telegraph line.
C. The faster telegraph made the Pony Express no longer needed.
D. The telegraph line was finished before the Pony Express began.

Mateo wrote these sentences for a report. Circle the one sentence that uses information from both texts.

Pony Express riders switched to fresh horses at relay stations along the trail.The Pony Express shut down in the same month the telegraph line was finished.Telegraph operators tapped out messages in a code of short and long signals.Crews built the telegraph line from the east and the west at the same time.

Which statement is true about both the Pony Express and the telegraph line?

A. Both stretched across the West to reach California.
B. Both used riders on fast horses to carry news.
C. Both sent messages using dots and dashes.
D. Both cost very little money to use.

Using both texts, which list puts these ways of sending news in order from slowest to fastest?

A. Pony Express, stagecoach, telegraph
B. telegraph, Pony Express, stagecoach
C. stagecoach, telegraph, Pony Express
D. stagecoach, Pony Express, telegraph

Imagine you are telling a friend how sending news to California changed between 1860 and 1861. Write 2 or 3 sentences. Use at least one detail from each text.