Another Bit from the American West

I just started Stagecoach: Wells Fargo and the American West. So far, it's pretty good. One bit in particular caught my attention. Traveling to San Francisco, William Tecumseh Sherman caught a boat which ran aground on a reef. Wading ashore he found a lumber boat to take him the rest of the way. It capsized.

"Satisfied that she could not sink by reason of her cargo," he wrote, "I was not in the least alarmed, but thought two shipwrecks in one day not a good beginning for a new, peaceful career" (Fradkin, 20).

Orphans Preferred

I finished Orphans Preferred, and I recommend it. It is lively, interesting, and informative, something very few books manage.

And I learned quite a bit about the Pony Express, about which I must confess, I knew almost nothing before. I did not, for example, know it was a private venture that lasted only eighteen months, and I certainly did not know about the camels.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love libraries? Orphans Preferred is one of many fascinating books I would not have read without them. I first saw it at a bookstore a couple of years ago and tagged it on one of my library accounts. It wasn't until recently that I got around to putting it on hold, and I would never have bought a hardback by an unfamiliar author.*

*Actually, I rarely buy hardbacks and generally buy books at used bookstores (another favorite place), but that is another story.