Review by Thomas J. Noel, Professor of History, University of Colorado at Denver
Jan 18 08
May I recommend most highly this handsome, thorough new look at American stagecoaching. John A. Sells, a fellow member of our Denver Posse of Westerners and a published author, has done a superb job of tracking down and bringing back to life the many lines contributing to the golden age of stagecoaching. For either a casual read, or as a fine reference work, this book will be a useful treasure on the shelves of Western Americana. Scholars and western history buffs will appreciate the numerous illustrations and maps, as well as the appendix listing all lines for Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada.
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Rocky Mountain Teamster Journal
Volume 52, No. 3, pg 4
June 2008
Book details early history of team drivers in the old west.
Denver – Denver writer John Sells has written the story of the first real American Teamsters – the stagecoach drivers who drove across the American West from 1850 to 1920.
While Teamsters still face great challenges in driving their big rigs across the nations highways and byways, the dangers were far greater in the 70 years in which stage drivers traversed the states of Arizona, Colorado New Mexico, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, which today are under jurisdiction of Teamsters Joint Council 3 in Denver, and California, the Dakota Territory, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada Oklahoma, Dakota, and Nevada. There are chapters in the book on the history of the stagecoach in each of these states, or territories.
In those days there were no paved roads and much of the ground covered by the stagecoaches was uncharted. The book details many of the dangers involved in establishing an east-west route across the United States, including the Indian Wars of 1864 to 1866.
Teamsters often faced hostile Indians, outlaws, inclement weather. “Venturing west into the hundreds of miles of hostile Indian Territory and areas frequented by white outlaws was a dangerous and often fatal exercise,” writes Sells.
But, with the granting of statehood to California in 1850, it was imperative that the United States government establish the east-west route. Until the advent of the railroads later in the century, the stagecoach would play a major role in opening the west.
Sells’ well-documented 345 page book—Stagecoaches Across the American West 1850 to 1920—describes many of the courageous exploits of the tough teamsters during the relatively short time the horse drawn coaches, operated throughout the west. It should be of interest in the history of their craft.
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