This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
Ben Holladay and the Overland Stage Legend at Great Falls
A Montana Stock Growers convention features the first annual spring sale of Montana Shorthorn cattle. Ben Holladay, famed Overland King, is remembered for pioneering the first stage coaches into Montana, his rise and fall, and the Virginia City mail contract that shaped western transport. The article traces Holladay’s era, losses from Indian raids, subsidies, and his eventual sale to Wells Fargo, framing his impact on frontier travel and Montana’s stock industry.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Ben Holladay
Overland King and Croesus
Frontier
Trail
Montana
Montana Stock Growers’ Association
Great Falls
Montana Shorthorn Breeders’ Association
Billings
Harry L. Summers
Bozeman
Summers
A. R. Deschamps
Missoula
Association
Overland
Buffalo
West
Overland Mail
Missouri
Pacific Coast
Virginia City
Alder Gulch
Overland Stage Company
Holladay
Boise
Idaho
Salt Lake
R. J. Spottswood
Spottswood
Missouri River
Kentucky
Old Blue Lick Battlefield
William Holladay
Ben
Doniphan
Salt Lake Valley
Brigham Young
Oregon
Panama
Japan
China
Portland
Samuel Woodson
Independence
Kansas
California
Judge Woodson
W. M. F. McGraw
Maryland
McGraw
Kimball & Co
A. S. Johnson
Shiloh
Fort Bridger
St. Louis
St. Joseph
Placerville
Slade
Julesburg
Colorado
North Platte and
Sweetwater
Bridger’s Pass
Bitter Creek
George K. Otis
Wells, Fargo & Co
Oregon & California
Waterloo
Salem
Oing