Mary Peace Finley
Award-winning author of books for young people
"Nine-year-old Raephy McDowell, the heroine of Mary Peace Finley's latest book, "The
Midnight Ride of Blackwell Station," was one of four children who lived with their parents
in an isolated prairie railroad station. Their mother was the telegraph operator and their
father was the ranch foreman. When the McDowells learned of the secret plan to move
the station and create a town, they had to work around rancher Amos Black, who owned the
land they lived on, and keep the secret from their very curious daughter. On cue, at midnight on May 22,
1886, the railroad company brought in workers, lifted the station and outbuildings onto flat cars, and
moved them 4 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. The town was
Lamar.
"Finley grew up in southeastern Colorado near Lamar and is the author of the award-winning
Santa Fe Trail Trilogy of books for young readers. More information can be obtained at her
website, www.MaryPeaceFinley.org.
"Prowers County historian Ava Betz writes that Finley "broadens the view of how the West was
won - not by wagon tracks alone, but sometimes by sleight of hand and a little larceny."
Finley's books are available at The Bookery, 129 E. Abriendo Ave., Pueblo, CO." --Mary Jean
Porter, The Pueblo Chieftain, July 18, 2010.
© Mary Peace Finley 2012
