This book has been considered by academicians and scholars of great significance and value to literature. This forms a part of the knowledge base for future generations. So that the book is never forgotten we have represented this book in a print format as the same form as it was originally first published. Hence any marks or annotations seen are left intentionally to preserve its true nature.

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

An updated version of this classic book which includes an examination of transport developments since 1974, and particularly those of the Thatcher era.

The stagecoach was the travel wonder of its age: passengers could board a fast coach and be shuttled from one end of the country to the other, stopping only in stages to hitch up fresh horses and take a little light refreshment at coaching inns. Though coaches first appeared in the sixteenth century, stagecoach travel reached its heyday between about 1750 and 1850, leading to great improvements in British roads, which in return encouraged faster and expanded services. This book details the routes, proprietors and coaching inns, the customers and why they chose to travel, and also the perils of early road travel, including highwaymen. The legacy of stagecoach travel is also explored, making this an essential introduction.