Butterfield's Byway: America's First Overland Mail Route Across the West

Transportation

by Melody Groves

John Butterfield's mail service connected the East and West Coasts in one of the great entrepreneurial and pioneering stories of the American West. Until 1858, California's gold fields were reached only by horseback, wagon or ship around Cape Horn. Congress decided a 2,800-mile, twenty-five-day stagecoach line would roll from St. Louis to San Francisco. Former Utica, New York mayor Butterfield hired one thousand men and bought 1,200 horses, 600 mules and 250 wagons. Surveying the wilderness, he built roads and two hundred way stations, graded river fords and dug one hundred wells. Join author Melody Groves on a cross-country trip from Missouri to California, and all points in between, as she recounts the Butterfield Stage Line's amazing odyssey.

Genres: History

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 4, 2014

About the author

Melody was born and raised in Las Cruces, southern New Mexico, but spent a few years "growing up" on Guam and in the Philippines. A graduate of New Mexico State University (B.S. Education), she is also a graduate of the University of New Mexico (M.A. Education). Melody taught in Albuquerque until leaving the classroom to become a full-time freelance writer.

A deep love of anything cowboy and Old West creates a fertile playground for her imagination. After spending ten years with the New Mexico Gunfighters Association, she learned what it feels like going toe to toe with a revolver-wielding sheriff. Being both "good guy" and "bad guy" gives her a firsthand feel for what her western characters experience.

Melody is a contributing editor for Round Up magazine for Western Writers of America. She is also a contributing writer for "American Westward Expansion," a collegiate history encyclopedia. She also writes for Wild West, True West, New Mexico and other magazines.

Reviews

[Joseph Gendron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a natural interest in trails and routes across the west especially in the region where I live. The Butterfield route is about 20 bird miles to the south. Melody Brooks does an excellent job with the subject matter and delivers a thorough, well researched history of the times, the people, the societal need, the technology and the pitfalls surrounding this hugely ambitious endeavor of 165 years ago; a yarn in the knitting of the west.