Author Archives: susandragoo

Dragoon Springs Stage Station on the Butterfield Trail in Arizona

Dragoon Springs Station on the Butterfield Trail has a dramatic history. Hear the harrowing tale of the September, 1858 massacre from Gerald Ahnert in the video below. Ahnert’s book, The Butterfield Trail Through Arizona’s New Frontier, tells more about Dragoon Springs and the entire Arizona segment of the Overland Mail route, 1858-1861. It’s available forContinue reading “Dragoon Springs Stage Station on the Butterfield Trail in Arizona”

Did the Butterfield Stages Use the Iron Bridge Over the Poteau?

In 1857-58, while John Butterfield and his associates were laying out a cross-country stagecoach route and setting up relay stations to support the Overland Mail’s 24-day traverse from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Coast, another transportation pioneer was surveying for a national wagon road. Lieutenant Edward F. Beale’s route went directly west along theContinue reading “Did the Butterfield Stages Use the Iron Bridge Over the Poteau?”

Finding the Butterfield: Brazil Station

An Unexpected Encounter Gravel flies as a Jeep skids to a halt in front of us. “What are you doing here?” the driver shouts as he jumps out. Joseph Wolf and I are both startled, and I am definitely puzzled. I had secured permission from the property owner to visit the site of old Brazil Station, orContinue reading “Finding the Butterfield: Brazil Station”

The Real Story Behind “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”

Swing low, sweet chariot Coming for to carry me home Swing low, sweet chariot Coming for to carry me home It is possibly the world’s best-known gospel song and was designated Oklahoma’s official “state gospel song,” in 2011. First popularized in the early 1870s, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” emerged from the pre-Civil War cotton fieldsContinue reading “The Real Story Behind “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot””

A Runaway Stage on the Butterfield: Unexpected Consequences

by Susan Dragoo A Runaway Stage In 1860, an eastbound stage of the Overland Mail carried Eadweard J. Muybridge, traveling as a through-passenger from San Francisco, from whence he had departed July 2. Best known for his use of photography to capture animals in motion for the first time in 1878, Muybridge laid the groundworkContinue reading “A Runaway Stage on the Butterfield: Unexpected Consequences”

Who Ran Fisher’s Station?

A Mystery Revealed By Susan Dragoo It’s been a mystery for many years . . . who was the “Fisher” of Fisher’s Station, the eleventh (counting east to west) in a chain of twelve official relay stations on the Indian Territory segment of the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach road? That mystery may now be solved,Continue reading “Who Ran Fisher’s Station?”