Nine-year-old Raephy McDowell is NOT a snoop. At least, she doesn't think so. She's mighty curious, though. Who wouldn't be with talk of a brand new town where there's nothing for miles except for the Santa Fe Railroad Station?
When Mary Peace Finley learned how Lamar, Colorado, was founded, she knew she had a story—a lighthearted, fun story. Her heroine, nine-year-old Raephy McDowell, was one of four children who lived with their parents squeezed into the second story of an isolated prairie railroad station. Their mother was the telegraph operator; their father the ranch foreman. When Mama and Daddy learn of the secret plan to move the station and ‘boom’ a town, they have two problems: How to work around rancher Amos Black who owns the land they live on, and how to keep their very curious daughter from finding out.
Right on track, at midnight on May 22, 1886, the railroad company brought in workers, lifted the station and outbuildings onto flat cars, and moved them four miles down the track. The station was unloaded and the telegraph lines reconnected before dawn. Within two days, families were buying lots and a town was born.
Mary Peace Finley is author of the award-winning Santa Fe Trail Trilogy—Soaring Eagle, White Grizzly, and Meadow Lark. Judith Hunt is the illustrator of many children's books including Prunes and Rupe
