This is the classic firsthand account by Waterman L. Ormsby, a reporter who in 1858 crossed the western states as the sole through passenger of the Butterfield Overland Mail stage on its first trip from St. Louis to San Francisco. Ormsby's reports, which promptly appeared in the New York Herald, are lively and exciting. He describes the journey in close detail, giving full accounts of the conveyances, the accommodations, the other passengers, the country through which they passed, the dangers to which they were exposed, and the constant necessity for speed.

Waterman L. Ormsby was a special correspondent for the New York Herald.

“Solid primary source material and a great piece of Americana.” —Library Journal

"The best narrative of the trip and one of the best accounts of western travel by stage."—Pacific Historical Review