The transcontinental railroad had crossed Nevada in…

The transcontinental railroad had crossed Nevada in 1869, but most town and mines are remote from it and require a network of wagon freight and stagecoaches.

Numerous small companies supply the horses, mules, and wagons for hauling borax and silver ore. Holdups are rare, and usually involve petty theft, since armed guards are an effective deterrent.

Mail contracts keep stage lines afloat and allow the emergence of a class of entrepreneurs who win contracts and subcontract the actual work.

Stagecoaches are notoriously uncomfortable across the roadless land, but are better than the alternatives and flourish until a railroad finally arrives in the person of the Eureka and Palisade Railroad, a narrow-gauge railroad ninety miles long built in 1875 to carry silver-lead ore from Eureka, Nevada, to ...