Jo's Triumph by Nikki Tate Page A

the stories of several remarkable women of the west: Charlotte Parkhurst, who cut off her hair, dressed as a boy, and became known as one of the finest stagecoach drivers of the 1850’s and 60’s; Sarah Winnemucca, an advocate and spokeswoman for the Paiute Indians who lived for a time at Ormsby House and witnessed the incident with the Washo Indians; and Sarah Emma Edmonds, who disguised herself as a man and joined the Union Army as Franklin Thompson.
    The Pony Express operated between April, 1860, and November, 1861. A section of the trail not far from Carson City was closed temporarily when hostilities between the Paiutes and the settlers were at their worst. Though the general context of
Jo’s Triumph
is rooted in fact, I have taken liberties with specific dates and locations, invented a couple of Pony Express stations, and pressed others into service slightly ahead of time in order to accommodate Jo’s fictional adventure. Where historical sources differed, I chose to use those accounts which best suited the requirements of this novel.
    Though numerous orphanages were in existence at the time, the Carson City Homefor Unfortunate Girls and all its inhabitants are figments of my imagination.
    Major Ormsby, the Williams brothers, Chief Numaga, Uncle Billy, Bolivar Roberts, and several others mentioned in the text are all historical figures who might well have met Joselyn Whyte had she been alive at the time this story takes place.
    If you are interested in reading more about this time in history, the following titles provide information about the Pony Express, the Pyramid Lake War, and the life of Sarah Winnemucca:
    Life Among the Piutes (sic): Their Wrongs and Claims
    Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins
    Chalfont Press, 1969
    The Pony Express
    Peter Anderson
    The Children’s Press (Grolier), 1996
    The Pony Express in Nevada
    Dorothy Mason for the Nevada Bureau of Land Management
    Nevada State Museum, 1996
    Sand in A Whirlwind: The Paiute Indian War of 1860
    Ferol Egan
    Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1972