Bob Crossman's latest book explores the untold story of John Butterfield's use of STEAMBOATS to carry the Overland Mail over portions of the Fort Smith to Memphis route of Butterfield's Overland Trail.

"This book greatly expands mythe two previous books, "Butterfield''s Overland Mail. Co. stagecoach trail across Arkansas 1858-1861 and "Butterfield's Overland Mail Co. use of steamboats to deliver mail and passengers across Arkansas, 1858 1861."--page 4.

The newspapers of Arkansas did an amazing job of covering the news around Butterfield's Overland Mail Company. Frequently the newspaper editors would draw their information from their exchange of newspapers across the country to bring to their subscribers the most accurate and comprehensive description of facts as possible. This book greatly expands my two previous books, "Butterfield's Overland Mail Co. Stagecoach Trail Across Arkansas 1858-1861," and "Butterfield's Overland Mail Co. use of STEAMBOATS to Deliver Mail and Passengers Across Arkansas 1858-1861." While in these two previous books, I only included brief excerpts from the Arkansas newspapers of 1857-1861, in this book I have let the newspaper reporters tell the story in their own words. It has been difficult, but I have limited my interpretive comments to a brief title I've assigned each article. In this way, today's reader can immerse themselves into the world of the citizens of Arkansas. While the purpose of my research of the Overland Mail was to satisfy my personal curiosity, hopefully this collection of my research will also make a contribution to the efforts of officially recognizing the route of Butterfield's Overland Mail Co. as a National Historic Trail.

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

"Historian Edward Leo Lyman has provided the first history of the complete Southern Route, and of the people who developed and used it. Based on extensive research in primary sources - including many early travelers accounts - and on Lyman's own investigation of the route and its branches, the book discusses the exploration and development of the Old Spanish Trail. Its horse thieves and traders, including Jedediah Smith and Kit Carson, along with government explorer John C. Fremont. Developing the old pack mule trail as a wagon road between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, miners heading for the California gold fields first used the route extensively.