Special acknowledgment is due Frank A. Root of Topeka, Kansas, joint author with William E. Connelley of The Overland Stage To California, an excellent compendium of data on many phases of the subject. In preparing this work, various Senate Documents have been of great value. Some interesting material is found in Inman and Cody's Salt Lake Trail.

The files of the Century Magazine, old newspaper files, Bancroft's colossal history of the West and the works of Samuel L. Clemens have also been of value in compiling the present book.

G.D.B.

Contents

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]
VI-- [Riders and Famous Rides]
VII-- [Anecdotes of the Trail and Honor Roll]
VIII-- [Early Overland Mail Routes]
IX-- [Passing of the Pony Express]

Illustrations

Transportation and communication across the plains

"A whiz and a hail, and the swift phantom of the desert was gone."

The Story of the Pony Express