Butterfield's Byway: America's First Overland Mail Route Across the West

· Arcadia Publishing
Ebook
192
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

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 a cross-country trip from Missouri to California, and all points in between, as she recounts the Butterfield Stage Line's amazing odyssey.

About the author

Melody Groves is the author of the Colton Family Saga series "Border Ambush" (finalist, 2009 New Mexico Book Awards), "Sonoran Rage, Arizona War" (winner, 2008 New Mexico Book Awards) and "Kansas Bleeds." Her essay about living in New Mexico was published in "Voices of New Mexico." Melody is a contributing editor for Round Up magazine and contributing writer for "American Westward Expansion, "? a collegiate history encyclopedia. Her books include "Hoist a Cold One! Historic Bars of the Southwest."

Rate this ebook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.