Or daily changes of clothing. Stagecoaches were familiar vehicles along the main roads of the East and the South before the coming of railroads in the 1830s and 1840s. [9] Another writer, however, argued that: Besides the excellent arrangement of conveying men and letters on horseback, there is of late such an admirable commodiousness, both for men and women, to travel from London to the principal towns in the country, that the like hath not been known in the world, and that is by stage-coaches, wherein any one may be transported to any place, sheltered from foul weather and foul ways; free from endamaging of one's health and one's body by the hard jogging or over-violent motion; and this not only at a low price (about a shilling for every five miles [8km]) but with such velocity and speed in one hour, as that the posts in some foreign countries make in a day. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses. It operated from April 3, 1860, to October 26, 1861, between Missouri and California.It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company.. During its 18 months of operation, the Pony Express reduced the time for messages to travel between the east and west US coast to . [21], The stagecoach lines in the USA were operated by private companies. His travel from Bath to London took a single day to the mail's three days. (FYI: Ranches, or Road Ranches, in Pony Express days, were watering spots/little supply stores/emigrant trail hostels/stopover places or the like, not like the big-acreage cattle/horse holdings, as we know today. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Goods and people bound for Eastern Washington were carried by steamship from San Francisco to Portland, then transported up the Columbia River by steamboat to various cities along the river, from where they were taken farther inland by stagecoach or freight wagon. Every stagecoach route in Texas stretched along a series of stopping points where drivers could hitch on a fresh team in 10 minutes and be on their way again. This account of early travel in the inland west by John W. Lundin and Stephen J. Lundin comes from a book the Lundins are writing about their great-grandparents, Matthew and Isabelle McFall, who were pioneers of Idaho. Common in England and continental Europe[5] posting declined once railways provided faster transport that was much more comfortable. Coaches with iron or steel springs were uncomfortable and had short useful lives. The stagecoach was a closed four-wheeled vehicle drawn by horses or hard-going mules. Mountain Stagecoach by Rey Britton and Company, Adventures & Tragedies on the Overland Trail, John Butterfield & the Overland Mail Company, Canyon Station Treasure Near Kingman, Arizona, Cowboys, Trail Blazers, & Stagecoach Drivers List, Clark Old Chieftain Foss Boisterous California Stage Driver, George Baldy Green A Popular Stage Driver, A Journey to Denver via the Butterfield Overland Dispatch, Knights of the Lash: Old-Time Stage Drivers of the West Coast, Delia Haskett Rawson Carrying the U.S. Mail, Russell, Majors & Waddell Transportation in the Old West, Virginia Dale, Colorado Stage Station Treasure, Wells Fargo Staging & Banking in the Old West. Stagecoaches of the American West - Legends of America Stage passengers could be victims, but usually thieves were after money or gold being transported, especially by stages operated by Wells, Fargo. The stockholders of the southwestern Stage Coach Company were H. M. Vaill, I. P. Williamson, of Independence, Missouri, and John R. Mino, also a citizen of Missouri. The riders were frequent targets for robbers, and the system was inefficient. Concord stages could carry seven passengers, mail, and feed for the horses. The Horses Pulling a Stage. Thus, the origin of the phrase "riding shotgun". [2] Sometimes, to be sure of return of the same horses, with a postilion as passenger. February 10, 1927-Logan County News-Henry A. Todd, one of those brave and daring men who came to the Indian country when both it and he were young, died in 1913 at the age of 67 years. New stations were then added where needed. The stagecoaches belonged to private owners, and the wagoners were mostly hired, although sometimes the wagoner was also the owner of the wagon. Very similar in design to stagecoaches their vehicles were lighter and sportier. They included: "The best seat is the one next to the driver. [11], Impressed by the trial run, Pitt authorised the creation of new routes. In addition to the stage driver or coachman who guided the vehicle, a shotgun messenger armed with a coach gun might travel as a guard beside him. Through years of experience on the frontier, he had learned that it was useless to try to get the better of an outlaw; so instead of meting them with their own weapons, he submitted courteously, and in this instance, treated them so amicably that they gave him back his watch and $14 in money. John Hailey was another pioneer of Western transportation. People's Histories include personal memoirs and reminiscences, letters and other historical documents, interviews and oral histories, reprints from historical and current publications, original essays, commentary and interpretation, and expressions of personal opinion, many of which have been submitted by our visitors. Idaho's first gold rush, on the Clearwater River in the early 1860s, brought a rush of prospectors who traveled by steamboat up the Columbia and Snake rivers. Cheryl Anne Stapp. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. 3:55 PM - Neal McCoy. Stagecoach horse chase Traveling by Stagecoach | Texas Co-op Power | An Online Community for The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. In spite of the rough frontier conditions of the stations, Donaldson admired the people who ran them under such difficult circumstances. Typically, home stations had an agent or station keeper in charge of five or six boys. Reforms of the turnpike trusts, new methods of road building and the improved construction of coaches led to a sustained rise in the comfort and speed of the average journey - from an average journey length of 2 days for the Cambridge-London route in 1750 to a length of under 7 hours in 1820. Relay rider stations usually had a single caretaker for the horses. What was the station called on a stagecoach? [4] Unless a return hire was anticipated a postilion of a spent team was responsible for returning them to the originating post house. Kinnear's mail and express line: That day's stage ride will always live in my memory but not for its beauty spots. [7], In 1754, a Manchester-based company began a new service called the "Flying Coach". This work was done by hand with mower and rakes. Wells Fargo ordered the factory's largest stagecoach model capable of seating nine passengers inside reinforced with extra iron hardware for use on rough western roads and painted bright red with yellow wheels and running gear. At first the stage stations were far apart; one located at Pond Creek, called Sewell's Ranch; another at Skeleton, now Enid; still another at Buffalo Springs, now Bison; Kingfisher, Darling, Canadian Crossing which was also known as George Washington Ranch; Wichita Agency, now Anadarko, and Cache Creek, about twelve miles from where Fort Sill is Cowhide was nailed on the stringers, but during the first winter, coyotes ate the leather off the rails. A simplified and lightened vehicle known as a stage wagon, mud-coach, or mud-wagon, was used in the United States under difficult conditions. Passengers were appalled by the dirt and squalor that greeted them at the station. But as True West Magazine tells us, passengers were often packed together in ways that made good friends of total strangers, whether they wanted to be or not. By the mid 17th century, a basic infrastructure had been put in place. 12:30 PM - Amethyst Kiah. Lighter faster and better-bred horses were used as the road surfaces smoothed and heavy mud-slogging could be forgotten. The Painful Truth About Stagecoach Travel In The Old West. Don't grease your hair before starting or dust will stick there in sufficient quantities to make a respectable "tater patch." With the assistance of officers of the law a vigilance committee began q quiet investigation, and soon picked up the trail of the robbers northwest of Caldwell. From the roof depends a large net work which is generally crouded with hats, swords, and band boxes, the whole is convenient, and when all parties are seated and arranged, the accommodations are by no means unpleasant. This robbery placed the stage company at great disadvantage, for mules of the regulation type were hard to get. These stations also included stables where the horses could be changed, a blacksmith and repair shop, and a telegraph station. Stagecoaches carried small parcels like samples and patterns and bundles of bank notes. Books were lying about, and in a corner one could perhaps see a parlor organ, one of those sobbing melodeons" (Donaldson). A postcard shows Salado's Stagecoach Inn, which it describes on the back as a "major stage stop-relay station of the old Chisholm Trail." Randy Mallory The Halfway Inn in Chireno, built around 1840, sits on Texas 21, the historic El Camino Real, and served as a post office and stagecoach inn. Some variations simply appear to be transcription errors. Another fun video from our friends at Arizona Ghost Riders: Stagecoaches in the Old West. Each division of the Pony Express route had an established number of home stations with various relay rider or swing stations between them. Four coaches of the Southwestern Coach Company were lost in tragedies of the South Canadian River, but on each occasion the United States mail was saved. He invested several hundred thousand dollars to build stations and fix the roads; to obtain the necessary live and rolling stock, forage, provisions; and to provide the men, arms, and ammunition for the protection of life, property, and the U.S. mail. Butterfield Overland Mail: The World's Longest Stagecoach Route - TheTravel [12], In the 18th and 19th centuries passenger transport was almost exclusively by road though there were coastal passenger vessels and, later, passenger boats on canals. Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated February 2023. They were rich in little save dirt. Stagecoaches continued to be a major form of transportation even after railroads were built into the Northwest. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. 7-8, T. 5 S., R 9 #.) This way each driver and conductor became intimately familiar with his section of trail. These meals were always prepared after the stage arrived because it was not possible to know beforehand how many passengers would be aboard and how much food to cook. 30-31, T. 8 S., R. 8 E. ) about 3 miles south of Colbert, Bryan County, and just below the old highway bridge across Red River. [11] The London-York route was advertised in 1698: At first travel by coach was regarded as effeminate for a man. The inside, which is capacious, and lofty, and will hold six people in great comfort is lined with leather padded, and surrounded with little pockets, in which travellers deposit their bread, snuff, night caps, and pocket handkerchiefs, which generally enjoy each others company, in the same delicate depository. Byways & Historic Trails Great Drives in America, Soldiers and Officers in American History, Easy Travel Organization Tips You Will Love, Bidwell-Bartleson Party Blazing the California Trail. Pony stations were generally located between 5 to 20 miles apart. Quick as a flash the other prisoner was with him. The driver on the eastbound stage would meet the driver of the westbound stage at a timetable station and they would exchange mail and passengers and turn back.