Intercity Bus Lines of the Southwest

Travel between southwestern towns at the turn of the century was an arduous experience. There were no longer any stagecoaches to carry travelers. Railroads did criss-cross the region, but they did not go through every burg. Motor cars were appearing, but not everyone could afford them. W. B. Chenoweth saw this void in transportation service. He designed a six-cylinder "motor driven stage coach," and in 1907 he coaxed a few passengers into the vehicle for a trip from Colorado City to Snyder, Texas.

As soon as passengers became used to Chenoweth's noisy coaches, the dusty paths, and, most important, the quicker trips, motor-coach wildcatters began to crop up across the Southwest. Bus companies grew, merged, and absorbed smaller companies.

Author Jack Rhodes has interviewed dozens of owners, executives, drivers, and ticket agents in his research for this book. Those interested in business history or the cultural elements of the era's buses, represented here in dozens of period photographs, will find this an engaging read.

For most of his life, Jack Rhodes has cultivated an avocational interest in buses and the business of operating them. He is associate professor and director of forensics at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.