The last thing sixteen-year-old Ezra Collins expected was that his life would collide with one of the most powerful families in America. But this is exactly what happens one afternoon in Kansas City, Missouri. It’s 1870, and the railroad has been stretching across the vast landscape of the American West, following the telegraph lines weaving over the plains.
When Ezra—an orphan with more dust in his pockets than change—gets run down in the street by the daughter of Samuel F. B. Morse, his life is about to change forever.
The manager of the Kansas City Western Union office quickly sees potential in Ezra and employs the curious and courageous boy. Along with his trusted dog, Archie, Ezra heads out into the budding territory of Denver, Colorado, to inspect the telegraph lines—and becomes its new station manager.
But this is just the beginning. On his way to visit the San Francisco office, Ezra stops at a still smoldering station in the Nevada desert. He stays to rebuild the station and in doing so begins the new town that becomes Collins Station.
Ezra’s inquisitive mind sees new ways to improve the telegraph world, and as the wildness of the West begins to gnaw at his heels, Ezra’s story unfolds—as inspiring as the scenery around him.
Ezra’s Journal 1870–1890 is a moving and intellectually inspiring look at one man’s tenacious and determined rise from poverty during one of the most exhilarating chapters in America’s history.
