Important Historical Milestones within the Story

• 1536 – Pilgrimage of Grace - King Henry VIII’s reprisal against the commoners in the North who revolted after the destruction of northern monasteries.
• 1541 – Bill for the Breed of Horses – Henry VIII decrees no English horse under 15 hands tall, or showing no promise of growing to that height, must be killed. Several small horses and ponies escape to the highland forests and mountains, their descendants eventually become known as Welsh Mountain ponies. This story tells of a pony named Riley who, with a small group of ponies escape to the highlands, then to a more fantastic place called Everdawn where they are transformed into long-lived, mythical creatures!
  
• 1745 – In southern Germany, Michael Dentzel converts his wagon-making business into a carousel-making enterprise.
• 1755 – The Great Lisbon Earthquake - one of the largest earthquakes in human history, it was centered in Lisbon, Portugal, it was felt as far away as North Africa, Britain, Finland, the Caribbean and even Greenland.   The quake collapses the one passage to Everdawn located in England, leaving only two remaining:  an ice-locked passage in Finland and the last in the wilds of the American Pacific Northwest (the word ‘passage’ is used for simplicity, the tunnels are built upon the structure of an Einstein-Rosen Bridge, or a wormhole carved through space and time).
• 1756-1763 – French and Indian War - In the 1750s, the war in France and Britain spread to North America. British Colonists wanted French land in North America and the British wanted to take over the fur trade in French territory.   In the peace treaty of 1763 the British took over most of the French land in North America. As a result of the war, the British began taxing the colonists to pay for the war.  Riley and his human family were delayed from sailing to North America until the war was over.
  
• 1775-1783 - American Revolutionary War – the American Revolutionary War began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America when the English Parliament insisted on its right to tax colonists, but Americans insisted on “no taxation without representation.”  Riley’s family are caught up in this war after they arrive on American shores.
  
• 1803 – Louisiana Purchase – As the west opens up, Riley and his family plan to travel west to search for the Everdawn Passage.
• 1806 – Corps of Discovery – When Lewis and Clark return with news from the western shores of the continent, Riley and his family know it is time to continue their trek westward.
  
• 1810-1812 – The Astor Expedition – the family travel west with John Jacob Astor and the Pacific Fur Company.
  
• 1800-1857 – Goat Rocks Eruptive period of Mount St. Helens – although they know the Everdawn Passage is located somewhere near Mount St. Helens, the volcano is very active, making exploring very dangerous.
  
• 2009 – 221 new species of frogs discovered on Madagascar – Fast forward about 150 years…  Riley lives with descendants of the family with whom he traveled to America, but they have no idea about his fantastic past.  We meet Annika, a young girl who must come to live with her grandma on the Oregon Coast when her scientist mother leaves to study amphibians in Africa.  Annika and her friend Rhys discover a mystery surrounding a very old carousel and a tired farm horse named Riley…