On the Plains and Across the Plains, Illustrated

Denver was a small town at the foot of the mountains when Theodore Davis took a stagecoach across the plains on the Smoky Hill Route from Atchison, Kansas. Herds of Buffalo and unfriendly Indians made the journey both exhilarating and dangerous, with a cavalry escort on parts of the trail. " 'Here they come!' and the crack of a rifle was responded to by a yell, followed by the singing whiz of arrows and the whistle of revolver bullets. The first shot dropped an Indian. Next a pony stopped, ...