This little volume has but one purpose--to give an authentic, useful,and readable account of the Pony Express. This wonderful enterpriseplayed an important part in history, and demonstrated what Americanspirit can accomplish. It showed that the "heroes of sixty-one" were notall south of Mason and Dixon's line fighting each other. And, strange tosay, little of a formal nature has been written concerning it.
I have sought to bring to light and make accessible to all readers themore important facts of the Pony Express--its inception, organizationand development, its importance to history, its historical background,and some of the anecdotes incidental to its operation.
The subject leads one into a wide range of fascinating material, allinteresting though much of it is irrelevant. In itself this material isfragmentary and incoherent. It would be quite easy to fill many pageswith western adventure having no special bearing upon the central topic.While I have diverged occasionally from the thread of the narrative, mypurpose has been merely to give where possible more background to thestory, that the account as a whole might be more understandable in itsrelation to the general facts of history.
Special acknowledgment is due Frank A. Root of Topeka, Kansas, jointauthor with William E. Connelley of The Overland Stage To California, anexcellent compendium of data on many phases of the subject. In preparingthis work, various Senate Documents have been of great value. Someinteresting material is found in Inman and Cody's Salt Lake Trail.
The files of the Century Magazine, old newspaper files, Bancroft'scolossal history of the West and the works of Samuel L. Clemens havealso been of value in compiling the present book.
G.D.B.
| I-- | At A Nation's Crisis |
| II-- | Inception and Organization of the Pony Express |
| III-- | The First Trip and Triumph |
| IV-- | Operation, Equipment, and Business |
| V-- | California and the Secession Menace |