Greene, Alvin Carl, Jr.
Author: A. C. Greene
Publisher: University of North Texas Press; New edition
Retail: $27.95
ISBN: 978-1574412130
Copyright: September 1, 2006
Pages: 304
From the Publisher
Today, more than a century and a third after the first Butterfield coaches rolled, we are hard put to imagine how awesome, how fearful was the actual passage along the trail. In 1858 Waterman Lily Ormsby Jr., gave the first account of traveling on the Butterfield Overland Mail coach as a reporter for the New York Herald on a trip from Missouri to San Francisco. In the 1930s Roscoe P. and Margaret B. Conkling drove the route again in their 1930 Buick and published three volumes of their research. Now A. C. and Judy Greene have made a 1990s version of the ride in their own “celerity wagon” a Lincoln Mark VII.
This is the first book in more than 55 years to trace the actual Butterfield Trail through the heart of the Southwest. Incorporating newly-found documents, and changes in the landscape and its history, it is an updated story of the Butterfield operation and the people and events that have occurred along the route.
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Greene (The Santa Claus Bank Robbery, Gulf Pub., 1986) has sensitively compiled a refreshing and currently relevant survey of the longest stagecoach line in world history. The writer's own recent travels over the varied miles of the trail are combined with recent scholarship to bring forth an exciting companion to anyone wishing to visit famous stations and stops along this vanished bastion of Americana. We experience the frustrations of attempting to connect with elusive points of interest as well as the satisfaction of standing at the very place that so many appointments and transactions of a bygone era were made. Besides the thorough coverage of the St. Louis-to-California route, this work gives special attention to the sections of the trail that pass through the wilds of Texas. Additional anecdotes and profiles conclude this most satisfying addition to a topic last covered by the The Butterfield Overland Mail (1947). Recommended for public library and college U.S. history collections.
Bruce Alan Hanson, Wayzata East J.H.S. Lib., Minn.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"A fine mix of past and present to appeal to scholar and lay reader alike."-Robert M. Utley, author of The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull "A. C. Greene, writing in his colorful style, has brought the old trail to vivid life."-Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee "Greene has sensitively compiled a refreshing... survey of the longest stagecoach line in world history. His own travels... bring forth an exciting companion to anyone wishing to visit famous stations and stops along this vanished bastion of Americana."-Library Journal"
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