Author: John M. Townley
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Coaching (Transportation)
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Author: Frank Albert Root
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 674

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"One of the most valuable narratives of the overland stage. As the agent of the postal department, Root oversaw the transportation of the mail over the great stage line ... The narrative is packed with anecdotes and details and is abundantly illustrated"--Bookdealer's description.

Author: J. V. Frederick
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803268685
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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The red and black Concord stagecoaches that crossed the West in the 1860s, known to the Indians as "fire boxes," have been celebrated in Mark Twain's fiction and JohnøFord's films. Predating the transcontinental railroads, they provided vital lines of communication to the East during the Civil War and opened to development the newly settled regions beyond the Missouri River. From 1862 to 1866 Ben Holladay owned and operated a network of stagecoach lines from Kansas to California, the main one following the central mail route between Atchison and Salt Lake City established by the U.S. government in 1848, and other lines branching into the mining country of California and Montana and Idaho territories. In spite of bad weather, primitive roads, holdups by highwaymen, and trouble with Indians, Holladay's coaches delivered passengers and mail on schedule. J. V. Frederick describes in fascinating detail the organization and operation of a vast transportation empire ruled by a man with executive genius and a gambler's instincts. Although Holladay forbade drinking and profanity on the job, he commanded the loyalty of his drivers, whom he dressed in broad-brimmed sombreros, corduroys trimmed with velvet, and high-heeled boots. He sold out just before the Union Pacific Railroad was completed and until his death in 1887 remained popular with Americans, who named racehorses and cigars after him.

Author: Jesse G. Petersen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
The 1859 exploration of the Great Basin by army topographical engineer James Simpson opened up one of the West's most important transportation and communication corridors, a vital link between the Pacific Coast and the rest of the nation. It became the route of the Pony Express and the Overland Mail and Stage, the line of the Pacific telegraph, a major wagon road for freighters and emigrants, and, later, the first transcontinental auto road, the Lincoln Highway, now Highway 50. No one has accurately tracked or mapped Simpson's original route, until now. Jesse Petersen shows in words, maps, and photos exactly where the explorer went. Sharing his detective-like reasoning as he walked or drove the entire trail west and Simpson's variant route returning east, Petersen takes readers on a mountain and desert trek through some of America's most remote and striking landscapes.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 982

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Author: LeRoy Reuben Hafen
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 9780806136004
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 374

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In the development of the American West, no two decades were so full of romance and change as the years from the California gold rush of 1849 to the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869. In two decades, the West was conquered and the secession movement rose and fell. From slow ox-team and prairie schooner to the dashing Pony Express, the overland mail service mirrored these monumental strides. Originally published in 1926, The Overland Mail was the first scholarly work to examine the impact of the postal service on the expansion of the West as the service evolved from a private endeavor to a government-contracted business. LeRoy R. Hafen details how the mail service tied West to East, influenced politics and economics, promoted use of the overland trails, aided in settlement, and helped usher in the railroads. This classic work is here available in paperback for the first time. In a new foreword, David Dary assesses Hafen’s contributions as a writer and historian.

Author: Waterman L. Ormsby
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1789125588
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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This is the classic firsthand account by Waterman L. Ormsby, a reporter who in 1858 crossed the western states as the sole through passenger of the Butterfield Overland Mail stage on its first trip from St. Louis to San Francisco. Ormsby’s reports, which soon appeared in the New York Herald, are lively and exciting. He describes the journey in close detail, giving full accounts of the accommodations, the other passengers, the country through which they passed, the dangers to which they were exposed, and the constant necessity for speed. “A most interesting account of the first westbound trip of an overland mail stage.”—Southern California Historical Society Quarterly “The best narrative of the trip and one of the best accounts of western travel by stage.”—Pacific Historical Review “If other travelers had been as careful and observant as Ormsby we should know vastly more about our country and the ways of our fathers than we do...The book is fascinating. It will prove interesting to all who care for travelogues, the history of the West, and particularly to those interested in our economic history.”—Journal of Economic History

Author: Emerson Hough
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Mississippi River Valley
Languages : en
Pages : 478

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Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 966

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Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Advertising
Languages : en
Pages : 1014

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