"A. C . . . gives us a fine mix of past and present to appeal to scholar and lay reader alike."—Robert M. Utley
"A. C. Greene, writing in his colorful style, has brought the old trail to vivid life. Thank you, A.C."—Dee Brown
"Greene has sensitively compiled a refreshing . . . survey of the longest stagecoach line in world history. His own recent travels . . . bring forth an exciting companion to anyone wishing to visit famous stations and stops along this vanished bastion of Americana."—Library Journal
"Remember, boys, nothing on God's earth must stop the United States mail!"—John Butterfield's instruction to his drivers
Short as the life of the Southern Overland Mail turned out to be—less than three years in its span—the saga of the Butterfield Trail remains a romantic high point in the westward movement, forming familiar elements in historical plots, functioning as a vibrant backdrop against which mythic adventures, western thrillers, movie serials, and television spectacles have raced. A. C. Greene offers a history and guide to retrace that historic and romantic Trail.
Today, more than a century and a third after the first Butterfield coaches rolled, we are hard put to imagine how awesome, how fearful the actual passage along the trail was.
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.