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John Simpson Chisum (1824-1884) - John Chisum was a cattle baron who moved longhorn herds from Texas into New Mexico in the mid 1800’s, where he founded one of the largest cattle ranches in the American West. See Full Article HERE.

William "Buffalo Bill" Frederick Cody (1846-1917) - Buffalo Bill was a freighter, cattle driver, Pony Express rider, Civil War soldier, buffalo hunter and army scout before he began entertaining great numbers of people in his Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. See Full Article HERE.

Mary Fields, aka: Stagecoach Mary (1832-1914) - Born as a slave in Tennessee, Fields was one of the first women entrepreneurs, stagecoach drivers, pioneers of the American West. See summary HERE.

Stagecoach Driver

Charles J. Goodnight (1836-1929) - Goodnight was a cowboy, and Texas Ranger who blaze the Goodnight-Loving Trail, invented the chuckwagon, and become part owner in one of the largest ranches in the Texas panhandle. See Full Article HERE.

George "Baldy” Green - One of the most popular stage drivers in the Sierra Mountain Range, Baldy Green was driving for the Pioneer Stage Company between Placerville, California and Virginia City, Nevada in the 1860’s. He was said to have been a handsome man who was about six feet tall with large, lustrous moustache. However, the hair on the top of his head was sparse, earning the nickname "Baldy.” During his days as a stagecoach driver, he drove many famous people including Ben Holladay, Horace Greeley, and Vice-President Schuyler Colfax.

On May 22, 1865, near Silver City, Nevada, three men robbed his stage of $10,000 in gold and greenbacks. More robberies followed, and not only would the highwaymen not leave him alone, but neither would the newspapers. The Territorial Enterprise noted he narrowly escaped scalping, and someone placed a sign near the spot saying, "Wells-Fargo Distributing Office, Baldy Green, Mgr.”

Two years later his stage was robbed twice on successive days, and after a robbery on June 10, 1868, Virginia City's Territorial Enterprise said: "Baldy Green is exceedingly unlucky, as the road agents appear to have singled him out as their special man to halt and plunder, and they always come at him with shotguns.” Two more robberies occurred the same month, and whether the stage company saw him as just unlucky or thought he may have been somehow involved in the robberies, he was discharged. He then went to hauling freight in Pioche, Nevada and was later said to have served as Justice of the Peace in Humboldt County, Nevada.

The Hash-Knife Outfit (1884-1900) - The Aztec Land and Cattle Company of Boston, became the third largest cattle company in North America in the late 1800's, headquartered in Holbrook, Arizona. See Full Article HERE.

Charles C. Haynes (1837-??) - One of the most prominent drivers on the Overland Stage Line, Haynes was born in Ohio in 1837. He began his staging career in Ohio in 1855, working on the Columbus Pike, which ran between Cleveland and Medina. The next year, he was in Michigan working on the Grand Rapids, Detroit and Allegan Roads. When the Overland Mail Company was organized, Haynes went to Missouri in 1858, first driving on the Independence Road. The following year, he was driving for the Kansas Stage Company on the old Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley military road. When the Civil War erupted in 1861, the Overland Mail route moved north and Haynes drove a number of route between Atchison, Kansas and the Rocky Mountains until 1865. In 1866, he was in California, working for Wells-Fargo. Two years later, he was in Salt Lake City, driving the Montana Road for Wells-Fargo and in 1869, was working the road between Salt Lake City and Austin, Nevada. In the Fall of 1870, he went to work for the Northwestern Stage Company as division agent for the 275 mile route between Elko, Nevada to Boise City, Idaho. In 1872, he was working as a Division Agent on the Overland Stage line between Boise City to Kelton, Idaho, a position he retained until 1875. After several more transfers to California, Nevada and Idaho and operating a few small route on his own, he retired to a ranch on Goose Creek in Idaho. He then bought an old Concord coach built by the Abbot-Downing Company, which he drove for tourists to the Falls of Shoshone, Idaho. Haynes also served as a U.S. Deputy Marshal under Fred T. Du Boise and Joseph Rinkhaus, was a constable of Shoshone, Idaho for many years, and acted as the first sheriff of Lincoln County, Idaho. 

Ben Holladay (1819-1887) - Born in Kentucky on October 19, 1819 and raised in Weston, Missouri, Holladay would grown up to become known as the "Stagecoach King." Helping his father to lead wagon trains through the Cumberland Gap, Holladay learned the business at an early age. Beginning his career by furnishing supplies to General Stephen Kearny in the Mexican War, he was involved with a number of successful business ventures in Weston, Missouri before moving to California and starting the Overland Stage Route.