Rock Creek Station
"The overland road entered Nebraska at the dividing line between Gage and Jefferson counties, one-time land of the Otoes, self-styled 'brothers of the whites.' We kept about two miles north…
Motivations to Emigrate
"Since American scholarship has virtually enshrined the continent-wide westward movement, it is only natural that must of the speculation concerning the overlanders' motivations has revolved around the so-called 'pioneer instinct'…
Difference Between California and Oregon Emigrants
"Oregonians during the 1850s believed themselves more 'respectable' than their Pacific Coast neighbors to the south, expressing the feeling in an arrogant anecdote: 'At Pacific Springs, one of the crossroads…
Like the Ascent of Capitol Hill
"Though scattered references to easy passage over the Rockies had been appearing in newspapers for the previous decade, it was explorer John C. Frémont who ignited the South Pass enthusiasm…
Great American Desert
"These frequently mentioned fears of overland travel derived in large measure from the commonly accepted geographic concept of the so-called 'GreatAmerican Desert,' an area thought to extend westward from approximately…
“Buffalo Bill” Cody
"William 'Buffalo Bill' Cody claims to have been a Pony Express rider around the Julesburg area, but this is unlikely. In Alexander Major's autobiography (one of the Pony Express's founders),…
Failure of Russell, Majors & Waddell
"It has been said again and again that the Pony Express ruined Russell, Majors & Waddell. That is not true. It was a failure as a financial asset from the…
Leavenworth, KS
"Leavenworth, Kansas, at that time a squatter town on the Delaware Indian Reservation two miles south of the Fort, was chosen [in 1855] as headquarters for the firm [Russell, Majors…