Author:
Groves, Melody, 1952-
Physical Description187 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm
Note:Prologue: Where It All Began -- Part I. Setting the Stage-Metaphorically Speaking -- New Mexico Territory...or Is This Arizuma? -- Texas : Ignored but Never Forgotten -- California at the Center -- There's Gold in Them Hills! : The Rush Is On -- Part II. The Need for Speed -- So We Need to Stitch Together the Coasts...How Do We Do That, Exactly? -- We Have a Railroad, Don't We? -- What About the Route? How Exactly Should We Get Across the Continent? -- Whew! Finally Decided -- Now That We Know Where We're Going, Who Will Lead Us? -- The Rest of the Route : The Oxbow -- Bifurcated Route : Fort Smith to Memphis -- The San Antonio-San Diego Line : A Viable Alternative? -- Part III. Building the Impossible -- Creating the Roads -- Building the Stage Stations -- You're Not Going Anywhere without Water -- Stagecoaches : Cradles on Wheels -- Concord Stagecoaches : The Luxury Liners -- Celerity Stagecoaches : Who Are You Calling a "Mud Wagon"? -- Drivers : The True Kings of the Road -- Horses and Mules : Giddy Up! -- Part IV. The Trip Itself -- Opening Day : What a Send-Off! -- From Sea to Sea : What Was It Like, Really? -- A Quick Look at How Fast They Traveled -- The Trip Has Ended, but the Comments Are Just Beginning -- To Sum It All Up -- Part V. The End of an Era -- Butterfield Impeached/Stepped Down/Reassigned -- The Bascom Affair -- And Now...the Rest of the Story -- The Pony Express -- Telegraph -- Indians -- The Civil War -- Epilogue -- Rules of Travel : Stagecoach Decorum -- Travel Comparison : 150 Years Ago versus Today -- List of Firsts -- List of Way Stations -- Timeline -- Terms and Slang.
Note:"A history of the first stagecoach line to connect the East and West coasts"-- Provided by publisher.
Note:"John Butterfield's mail service connected the East and West coasts in one of the great entrepreneurial and pioneering stories of the American West. Until 1858, California's gold fields were reached only by horseback, wagon or ship around Cape Horn. Congress decided a 2,800-mile, twenty-five-day stagecoach line would roll from St. Louis to San Francisco. Former Utica, New York mayor Butterfield hired one thousand men and bought 1,200 horses, 600 mules and 250 wagons. Surveying the wilderness, he built roads and two hundred way stations, graded river fords and dug one hundred wells. Join author Melody Groves on across-country trip from Missouri to California, and all points in between, as she recounts the Butterfield Stage Line's amazing odyssey"-- Provided by publisher.
