The Last Days of the California Stagecoach

California stagecoach history is filled with colorful characters. The infamous stagecoach robber Black Bart and the famous stagecoach driver, commonly referred to as whip, Charley Parkhurst are but two. Stagecoaches transported people and cargo and appeared with the California Gold Rush and California’s statehood. California was no different than other regions of the country. The …

What it Was Like to Travel on the Butterfield Overland Stage Route

It’s not easy to find the site of an old Butterfield Stage station these days. The Butterfield stagecoach stations simply disappeared over the years but there is one remaining site located in southern California on the historic Butterfield trail. This is the Oak Grove Butterfield Stage Station located in Warner Springs California, about 50 miles …

How the Sharps Rifle Helped Get the Mail Through from San Antonio to El Paso

The end of the Mexican American War in 1848 meant a lot of things to a lot of people. To be sure, there were Americans residing in places such as El Paso Texas and Santa Fe New Mexico during the war. When the war ended and the territory we now know of as the state …