Sharps Rifles and Spanish Mules

From 1851 to 1881, before the coming of the railroad, this line was the only authorized carrier of the U.S. mail along that route as well as the sole means of regular commercial transportation for travelers headed west from San Antonio. The history of the line is related here in scholarly detail laced with high adventure and peppered with action.

Many of the early travelers on the San Antonio-El Paso line sought a quick fortune in gold from the streams and hills of California. Such daring entrepreneurs as George Giddings and Henry Skillman pioneered the stage service west from central Texas, braving Indian attacks, harsh weather, and the Civil War. Armed with their trusty Sharps rifles and riding Concord coaches pulled by rugged Spanish mules, the expressmen struggled across the inhospitable desert and mountain country of the West to deliver the mail and to fulfill their business contracts.

Sharps Rifles and Spanish Mules, which draws heavily on field research as well as on U.S. Court of Claims depositions, is the only major study of the San Antonio-El Paso Mail. It is fascinating reading for anyone interested in the American frontier and a must for scholars of western history and the development of commercial transportation.