MO ROSLYN-Stagecoach from Ellsworth, Kansas

          Ellsworth started as a hunting and trading camp owned and operated by Daniel Page and Joseph Lehman in 1860. The men gathered wolf and buffalo hides for trade. In 1862 the ranch became a station for the Kansas Stage Company. Located in the more central part of Kansas, the station kept and fed mules that were changed when stagecoaches came through. The background banner above I used to introduce my new book is of the plains in central Kansas.

          Unlike the Butterfield Overland Despatch that continued west to Denver, Colorado, the Kansas Stage Company route turned south on what was called the Fort Riley-Fort Larned Road and ended at Fort Larned along the Santa Fe Trail.

          In response to increasing attacks on settlers by the hostile Native American tribes on the Southern Plains, most notably the Cheyenne, soldiers from the 7th Iowa Cavalry, under the command of 2nd Lt. Allen Ellsworth, set up a fortification. The spot chosen was next to the ranch, and where the Fort Riley-Fort Larned Road crossed the Smoky Hill River to continue south. The fort was named for 2nd Lt. Ellsworth.

1867 North side of Main Street, Ellsworth, Kansas

          A town began to form nearby. It took its name, Ellsworth, from the fort. 

          David Butterfield built a station for his line at Ellsworth, no doubt due to the existence of the town and the protection afforded by the fort. From what I have been able to determine, the Kansas Stage Company still had their station there.

          I did find lists of B.O.D. stations along the Smoky Hill Trail, but no details about the schedule other than the stagecoaches ran thrice weekly. I also found very few details about the Ellsworth B.O.D. station other than it was a home station, which meant it would have been operated by a family. I found no pictures of this station. In Mail Order Roslyn, my description is purely hypothetical, although I drew inspiration from a few photos and descriptions of B.O.D. stations built farther to the west I found in a published book. Although I do not know the names of the real family that ran that station, my hypothetical family, plus the stock tenders who worked there, play an active role in my story.

          Although Roslyn is at the Ellsworth station for some time, it soon becomes expedient for her to leave. Roslyn did not enjoy the ride from Ellsworth, but she was happy when it ended. I hope my readers enjoy my story of the ride, and are sad to see this story end.

          For more information on Fort Ellsworth, you might enjoy my post about this Kansas frontier fort I posted on the Cowboy Kisses blog last week. CLICK HERE.

          For a chance to win one of two prizes—first prize, a $10 Amazon gift card; second prize, two Zina Abbott ebooks of the winner’s choice—complete the Rafflecopter below no later than Friday, May 1, 2020. The answer to one of the questions on the Rafflecopter is found in this blog post. To find the answer on Wednesday’s post, CLICK HERE. To find the answer on Thursday’s blog post, CLICK HERE.

Saturday, after the Rafflecopter ends, I’ll announce the winners and share the book description to Mail Order Roslyn.

          Mail Order Roslyn is not on preorder, and there is a reason I am not yet sharing the book description. It will be published no later than tomorrow. When it is available, I will notify my readers through my newsletter and this blog, plus the Mail-Order Bride Romance Readers group on Facebook.

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MO ROSLYN-Stagecoach from Junction City, Kansas

          Junction City is so named due to its position at the confluence of the Smoky Hill and Republican rivers, which forms the Kansas River.

          Originally, the site was intended for a city that Andrew J. Mead of New York planned in 1854. The Cincinnati-Manhattan Company of “Free Staters” connected to the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company planned for a community to be called Manhattan. Unfortunately, when the steamship Hartford delivered the immigrants, it could not reach the site because of low water on the Kansas River. The Free Staters settled eight miles east in what today is Manhattan, Kansas.

          The city that did develop went by several names before local farmers in the region renamed it Junction City and formally incorporated it in 1859. It did not have the same colorful history as its nearby neighbor, Lawrence, Kansas, possibly because of close proximity (four miles) to a major military institution, Fort Riley.

          In addition to Junction City enjoying a certain amount of commerce due to its proximity to the fort, in its early years, it became an agricultural region with settlers pouring in and buying land.

Junction City, Kansas

          Junction City became a stage stop for the Kansas Stage Company line as early as 1860. In September 1865, David Butterfield of the Butterfield Overland Despatch (no, that is not a typo on Despatch) also established a station in Junction City for his line. The two companies served some of the same communities along the Smoky Hill Trail, but the Butterfield Overland Despatch continued west beyond the Kansas Stage Line all the way to Denver, Colorado. 

          (Butterfield is a well-known name when it comes to stagecoach companies. However, there is no relationship between David Butterfield who started the B.O.D. in Kansas and John Butterfield who ran the Butterfield Overland Mail Company from St. Louis, Missouri south through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona Territories, and California in the 1850s until he lost the mail contract for that route at the start of the American Civil War.)

          In Mail Order Roslyn, Roslyn came to Junction City to marry a man she knew not at all except from a letter. While she waits for him, she visits the livery close to where she is staying. There she meets a man who plays an ongoing role in the story. This man was also a minor character in my last book, Hannah’s Handkerchief. When it is time to leave Junction City, Roslyn boards a stagecoach on the Butterfield Overland Despatch to travel to her next destination.

          For a chance to win one of two prizes—first prize, a $10 Amazon gift card; second prize, two Zina Abbott ebooks of the winner’s choice—complete the Rafflecopter below no later than Friday, May 1, 2020. The answer to one of the questions on the Rafflecopter is found in this blog post. To find yesterday’s post, CLICK HERE. Return tomorrow for another post with another answer.

BONUS POINTS: For an extra five points on the rafflecopter, name or describe in ten words or less a minor character in Hannah’s Handkerchief that might be the man Roslyn meets in the Junction City livery.

          Mail Order Roslyn is not on preorder, and there is a reason I am not yet sharing the book description. (See bonus points section above.) It is scheduled to be published later this week. When it is available, I will notify my readers through my newsletter and this blog, plus the Mail-Order Bride Romance Readers group on Facebook.

Click on link:

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